Pokemon Rainbow Book 1: Red
by Fakemon Master KC
Summary: This fic is on indefinite hiatus. Sorry
1. Chapter 1

_**As The Journey Continues**_

"Pika Pi! Pika Pi! Pika-"

A young boy slowly opened his eyes and lazily shut off his alarm clock. His parents had given him that stupid Pikachu clock for his eighth birthday. He hated it, but still kept it because he knew his parents had put a lot of thought into it. And that thought was probably "What can we do to torture our son the most?"

Wait… Birthdays… That's right! It was his birthday today! Today he was turning ten years old! "Yes!" He shouted, fully awake now with excitement. "I can finally become a Pokemon trainer!" He leapt out of bed and hurried to get dressed, then ran downstairs.

"Hey, son, where are you going so fast?" His dad asked, reading the news as the boy ran through the kitchen.

"Yeah. You don't want to miss your birthday breakfast, do you?" His mom asked, putting the last of a stack of chocolate chip pancakes on a plate.

"Sorry. Can't wait! Gotta get to the lab! Love you guys! Bye!" The boy said hastily as he ran out the door. His parents sighed. He was always so excitable.

The boy ran as fast as his feet could carry him. Thank Arceus for those Running Shoes his parents had given him earlier. He finally got to the Pokemon Lab. "Professor Oak! Professor Oak! Am I late?"

"Nope. Right on time." Professor Oak said. "And I keep telling you: you can just call me Gary."

"Sorry, Profess- Uh, Gary." The boy said. "So, what Pokemon am I getting? A Bulbasaur? Charmander? Squirtle?"

"Actually," Gary said, "I had something else in mind for you." He went over to a table and picked up a Pokeball. "My research partner told me you said you wanted to become the strongest trainer in all of Kanto. That's why I decided to give you what I think is the strongest _Pokemon_ in all of Kanto. Eevee, come on out!" He threw the Pokeball and out of it popped an Eevee, which landed in the boy's arms.

"Eevee!" The Eevee said happily, snuggling up to the boy.

"I love it! Thanks, Professor!" The boy looked at his new partner and smiled. "We're gonna enter the Pokemon League," he said to Eevee, "and we're gonna win! Because we're partners now, Eevee! So, are you ready?"

"Eevee!" The Eevee said excitedly.

Gary smiled. "I have some stones with me now in case you want to evolve it." He said. "That's what makes Eevee so powerful: all the possibilities that come with it. So, what do you want? A Jolteon? Flareon? Vaporeon?"

The boy looked down at his new Eevee and smiled. "I don't want any of those." He said. "I like him just the way he is."

Gary shrugged. "Suit yourself. Good luck on your journey."

"Thanks, Professor!" The boy said as he ran out of the lab. "Just wait! One day, I'm gonna be a Pokemon master!"

Gary smiled as he watched the boy run out to begin his own Pokemon adventure. He reminded Gary so much of his old friend. So energetic and optimistic. Gary knew that this boy had a bright future ahead of him, wherever his journey may take him.

 **…**

"She's been so happy the last few weeks."

"I know. She's been carrying that egg around with her everywhere."

"She has your enthusiasm. I just hope the Pokemon she gets out of it will share it too."

"Mom! Dad!" A ten-year old girl rushed into the room, running with a Pokemon egg. The egg had a crack in the top of it. "It's hatching! It's finally hatching!"

She set the egg on the table. More cracks formed at the top as the egg shook and the Pokemon inside it struggled to break out of it. "What do you think it'll be, sweetie?" Her father asked.

"I don't know, but I'm gonna love it no matter what!" The girl squealed excitedly.

Finally, the egg gave one last shudder and broke open. In its place stood a little Mime Jr. The newly-hatched Pokemon struck a pose and let out an enthusiastic "Mime Mime Mime!"

"Oh, my gosh! It's so beautiful!" The girl squealed, picking up her new Pokemon and holding it close. "I love it so much! I'm gonna call you Mimey! Do you like that name?"

"Mime! Mime!" Mimey replied happily.

"Congratulations, Love Bug." Her father said. "You're finally a Pokemon trainer!"

"Do you want to call your sister and tell her?" Her mother asked.

The girl shook her head. Her sister was in the Alola region participating in contests there right now, having already won in Hoenn and two other regions. "Nah. I don't want to bother her." The girl said.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Her mother asked. "Challenge the Pokemon League? Try to fill up the Pokedex?"

The girl shook her head again. "I wanna be a Pokemon Coordinator!" She said confidently. "Just like you guys and Patty! I'm gonna win contests all over the world and become a big star!"

Her parents smiled. In their youths, they too had been Pokemon Coordinators, and were both quite famous for it too. Their contest wins from all over the world were some of the most celebrated in every region, and their eldest daughter, Patty, was already successfully following in their footsteps.

"We're behind you 100 percent, Love Bug." Her father said proudly. "We'll be sure to watch you at the Grand Festival this year."

"Thanks, daddy!" The girl replied. "I'm gonna start training right now!" She ran out of the room with Mimey still in her arms. Her parents both smiled as she left.

"She's gonna make it big some day." Her father said.

"She'll be even bigger than us, I bet." Her mother replied.

A girl's dream has begun, and it will take her far to stardom.

 **…**

"Any luck over here?"

"None so far, dad."

"Dang! This area must be tapped out, then. I say we move on!"

"Dad! Grandpa! Look what I found!"

A 10-year old boy was running to his father and grandfather, a bright orange stone held carefully in his hands. "Whatcha got there, son?" The boy's father asked.

"I think it's a fossil! I found it over there!"

"Let me see that." The boy's grandfather said. The boy handed over the fossil and his grandfather examined it closely. "Dear Arceus! This is an Old Amber! And it's gotta be the most perfectly formed Old Amber I've ever seen! We need to add this to the collection!"

"But, grandpa, can't I restore it instead?" The boy asked.

"Wha- Well, I suppose…"

"Please, grandpa?" The boy begged.

"Come on, dad. Let him restore it." The boy's father said.

The boy's grandfather sighed and smiled. "All right. We can take it up to the lab right away."

"Yay!" The boy squealed as he hugged his father with joy.

"Don't know why you'd want to restore such a perfect fossil, though." The boy's grandfather added quietly under his breath.

The next day, at the Oreburgh City Mining Museum, the boy, his father, and his grandfather all waited for the restoration process to finish. "Okay, that should do it." Said the scientist in charge. "Ready to meet your new Pokemon?"

"I sure am!" The boy said excitedly.

The scientist pressed a button on the restoration chamber's control console, the chamber opened, and inside it was an Aerodactyl.

"Aerodactyl!" The Aerodactyl roared.

"Whoa! It's amazing!" The boy exclaimed. The boy ran up and hugged the ancient Pokemon.

"Dactyl?" The Aerodactyl said, confused by the affection it was being shown.

"We're gonna be best friends, Aerodactyl! I just know it!" The boy said.

"So, what are you going to do now that you're an official Pokemon trainer?" The boy's father asked him.

"I already know!" The boy said. "I'm gonna catch one of every Pokemon in the whole entire world!"

"That's a pretty big goal to have, boy." The boy's grandfather said.

"Yeah! And I'm gonna do it!" The boy replied enthusiastically. "Come on, Aerodactyl!"

The boy's father and grandfather watched proudly as the boy raced out with his new Pokemon. "He's got your enthusiasm." The boy's grandfather said to his son.

"Yeah, but he's also got your obsessive tendencies." The boy's father replied with a smug grin.

"Aw, shut up, Roark." Byron said with a laugh. "Still. That kid of yours is going to do some great things one day."

"I know, dad." Roark replied. "I know he will."

 **…**

It was getting late. The sun was just about to to go down. It really was true what people said: there isn't any sight in the world as beautiful as an Alolan sunset. Some people saw it never, some people saw it only once in their entire lives. But, for one ten year old girl, she got to see it every day of her life.

Her day had been like every other day she'd lived. She woke up in her room at the Aether House, sat alone while the other children there played with Pokemon and with each other, and then, just as the sun was going down, she joined her caretaker, Acerola, on a trip to the Thrifty Megamart.

Acerola was humming a tune, but the girl with her stayed silent as they walked along the black, sandy beach leading up to one of Alola's sacred Trial sites. Both of them had bags of Pokemon food that they were going to leave for the Megamart's resident Pokemon. It was a job they did every night. Acerola always asked if any of the other children would be willing to accompany the two of them, but it was always just her and the girl. None of the other children wanted anything to do with the Megamart and its terrifying Ghost Pokemon, and they also didn't want anything to do with the girl with a curse over her head. A curse that was about to play out just like it always did.

As the girl walked with Acerola, she looked out over the ocean to catch a glimpse at the sunset. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. However, something else caught her eye in the water. A small Pokemon was bobbing just in front of the shoreline. A Goldeen, its scales glistening in the light of the sunset, was sitting there in the water looking at the girl. The girl, in a moment of forgetfulness, smiled and waved at the little Water Pokemon. The Goldeen, however, did not respond kindly. It leapt up out of the water, firing a Water Pulse attack at the girl. The girl screamed as the glowing blue ball of aquatic energy flew towards her. She was saved, fortunately, by Acerola, who pulled her out of the way of the attack just in time.

"Hey, you!" Acreola yelled at the Goldeen. "Don't attack her! She isn't hurting anybody!" The Goldeen glared at the girl, who was cowering on the ground behind the Trial Captain, then swam back out into the ocean. "Sorry about that." Acerola said to the girl. "Goldeen are usually so nice." Acerola's comment was met with the sound of sad sniffles. The girl was crying. Acerola knelt down next to her. "Hey," Acerola said gently, "come on. Please don't cry."

"Why does this always happen to me?" The girl sobbed. "Why do Pokemon hate me?"

Acerola hugged the crying girl. She hated seeing her like this, but it happened all the time. Whenever this girl was around Pokemon, they would attack her with everything they had. Pokemon just seemed to hate her for some reason. "Shhh. It's okay." Acerola soothed the girl. "It's going to be okay." She helped girl to her feet. "Come on. Let's go drop off this food, then maybe we can get a malasada on the way home."

The girl wiped her eyes and gave a small smile. "Okay." She said. She and Acerola kept heading towards the Thrifty Megamart.

When they got to the Megamart, Acerola led the way inside, making sure to keep an eye out for any Pokemon that might want to attack her companion. The two of them made their way through all the mess and clutter that was inside the destroyed shopping center, and poured their Pokemon food into some bowls kept by the back wall for the Pokemon to eat at. "There we go. All done." Acerola said proudly. "Now, let's get you that malasada!"

The girl and Acerola were about to leave when they heard a loud, distressed cry. "KYUUUUU!" Acerola ran towards the source of the cry, followed by the girl. The two of them ran around a stack of boxes to see a Gastly, a Haunter, and a Gengar shoving around a poor Mimikyu. The Gastly blasted the poor little Pokemon with Night Shade, then the Haunter hit it with a Shadow Ball, and finally the Gengar slashed at it with Shadow Claw, which tore the Mimikyu's costume.

Acerola stepped out from behind the boxes. "Hey! Leave him alone!" She shouted. The trio of Ghost Pokemon all saw Acerola and fled the scene, but the Mimikyu was left alone and badly damaged. Acerola knelt down to get a closer look. The girl who had came with her came out from behind the crates and saw that Mimikyu's costume had gotten torn.

"We should help it." She said. The girl, knowing full well that the Mimikyu would definitely attack her even if she helped it, ran off to find supplies in the Megamart. Fortunately, since the building was once a superstore, there were plenty of things within it that could certainly help the poor Mimikyu. The girl came back with a few Potions and a needle and thread she had found and went to use them on the Mimikyu. The little Ghost Pokemon stayed still long enough for the girl to heal it and fix its costume. The girl then quickly backed away from it, knowing it was about to attack her. However, something unusual happened.

"Kyu." The girl felt a long, cold hand wrap around her leg. She looked down to see that the Mimikyu was hugging her with its one, long, black hand. The girl was stunned, and Acerola was just as surprised. This had never happened before.

Acerola finally shook herself free from the shock of this moment, and walked up to the girl and the Mimikyu. "Looks like it likes you." The girl was still too surprised to respond. "Here." The girl looked over and saw that Acerola was offering her a Pokeball. The girl was still hesitant, though.

"I'm n-not sure." She stammered.

Acerola took the Pokeball and gently placed it in the girl's hands. "Everyone deserves the chance to become a Pokemon trainer." She said. "Go on. You can do it."

The girl hesitated a bit more. She looked down at the Mimikyu. She couldn't see behind its disguise, but somehow she knew it was smiling up at her. She bent down and gently touched the Pokeball to its head. The Pokemon went inside, and the ball dinged instantly, confirming the capture.

When the girl and Acerola left the Thrifty Megamart, the girl was so happy she was practically jumping up and down with joy. Not only had she found a Pokemon that didn't hate her, she had actually caught it. "Just you wait." Acerola said as they walked back to the Aether House. "I know that you and that Mimikyu are going to become the best of friends!"

 **…**

"Eevee, use Shadow Ball!"

"Dodge it, Alakazam!"

But the order came too late, and Sabrina's Alakazam fainted after a direct hit from the super effective attack.

"Alakazam is unable to battle!" Announced the referee. "Eevee is the winner, which means victory goes to the challenger!"

"Yes! We did it!" The boy shouted triumphantly.

Sabrina returned her Alakazam to its Pokeball and walked over to the boy. "You battled very well. You and that Eevee sure do make a great team. Although, I don't think I've ever seen a trainer with an Eevee who doesn't want to evolve it."

"Yeah, I hear that a lot." The boy replied. "But I like Eevee just the way he is. Right, buddy?"

"Eevee!" Eevee replied.

"Okay then. Here's your proof of victory here at the Saffron City Gym: The Marsh Badge." Sabrina handed over the badge and the boy happily added it to his badge case.

"Thanks for the battle, Sabrina! I gotta get moving, though. I'm trying to get to Fuchsia City by tomorrow to get my next badge!"

"Well, good luck to you." Sabrina said. She smiled as she watched the boy leave.

"You look pretty happy despite losing." The Gym referee said. "What is it?"

"There's just something interesting about that boy." Sabrina said, still smiling. "Almost like I've seen him before."

"Heh. Whatever you say, Sabrina." The ref said. "Want me to bring in the next challenger?"

"Sure. Just let me go heal my Pokemon."

Sabrina headed to the Pokemon store room in the back of the Gym. _I know I've seen an aura like his before_ , she thought. When she got to the store room, she was greeted by a hug and a large tongue licking her face happily. "Haun Haunter!" Said Haunter.

"Heh heh. Hi, Haunter." Sabrina said. Then it hit her: who that boy reminded her of. "I can't believe it's been so long." She said to herself. "Almost 15 years since that day…" She smiled again. "That boy's going places."

"Haunter?" Haunter asked.

"It's nothing, Haunter. Just a reminder of an old friend." She put her Pokemon in the healing machine. "It's funny. The faces change, but the people don't. It's been 15 years since I've seen someone with that sort of spirit."

The machine finished restoring her Pokemon to full health. Sabrina picked up her Pokeballs and went out to face her next challenger. _That boy is definitely going places_ , she thought.

 **…**

"Combusken, use Flamethrower!"

"Dodge it, Mimey, and use Teeter Dance!"

The Mime Jr gracefully dodged the attack and started dancing. The Combusken he was facing started doing a sloppier, clumsier version of the same dance, now confused.

"That Mime Jr is moving beautifully, but I don't think the judges will appreciate the way Combusken is acting now." The MC commentated.

"Snap out of it, Combusken, and use Brick Break!" The other Pokémon Coordinator commanded.

"Com… Bus… Ken…" Combusken slurred, raising its fist and hitting itself in the face instead of its opponent.

"Now, Mimey, use Psybeam!" The girl commanded.

"Mime Miiiiime!" Mimey said, firing a beam of rainbow energy and hitting the Combusken, knocking it out.

"And the battle is over!" The MC announced. "Which means the winner of the Slateport City Pokemon Contest is this girl and her Mime Jr!"

"Yes! We did it, Mimey!" The girl said happily. She went over to the MC, who presented her with her ribbon.

Later that night, the girl called her parents from the Slateport City Pokemon Center. "Mom! Dad! Look! I won my first ribbon!"

"Congratulations, sweetie!" Her mom said.

"Your sister, Patty, wanted us to tell you that she won the Grand Festival in Alola and that she'll be coming home to watch you compete here." Her dad said.

"That's amazing! It'll be great having all of you in the crowd when I'm at the Grand Festival!" The girl replied. "I'll see you guys soon." She turned off the video phone and went up to her room in the Pokémon Center for the night. Mimey was busy practicing his Teeter Dance moves on the bed. "Looking good, Mimey!" The girl said. "We're definitely going to keep winning!"

"Mime Mime!" Mimey replied enthusiastically.

The girl crawled into bed with him. "Goodnight, Mimey. Tomorrow, we're going to Verdanturf Town for the next contest!"

The girl and her Mime Jr drifted off to sleep, with thoughts of more victories to come on their minds.

 **…**

"Uh, son, I think we need to talk."

"Sure, dad. What's up?"

"Well," Roark said, "it's just that you're catching so many Pokémon…"

"I know! I'm almost halfway through the Pokedex here in Sinnoh!" The boy said excitedly.

"Yes, but the sheer amount of Pokémon is taking up too much space here at home. Grandpa has to share his room with your Yanmega and Kricketune now, and you know how much he hates Bug types."

"So, what are you saying?" The boy asked. "Do you want me to stop catching Pokémon?"

"I'm not saying that at all." Roark said lovingly to his son. "I'm just saying that this dream of catching _every_ Pokémon might be a bit too big. Try starting out with an easier challenge first, maybe. Like winning the Pokémon League, or becoming a Pokémon Coordinator, or maybe you could-"

"Become a Gym Leader like you and grandpa!" The boy interrupted.

Roark chuckled. He loved his son's enthusiasm. "Yeah, you could do that, but you'll have to work hard at it. The easiest way to become a Gym Leader is to have a Gym handed down to you, but neither me nor grandpa is just going to give you one of our Gyms. So, the next best way would be to win eight badges from eight separate regions. Only then will the Pokémon League give you a Gym."

"Okay! I'll do it, dad!" The boy replied with fire in his eyes. "How about I start by challenging you? Aerodactyl and I have been training super hard, so we're ready for it!"

Roark smiled proudly. "All right, if you think you can beat me."

"I will, dad! You'll see! I'm gonna make you proud one day!"

 _You already have, son_ , Roark thought. _You already have._

 **…**

"Elekid, use Thundershock!"

"Dodge it, Mimikyu, and use Shadow Claw!"

The girl watched as her Mimikyu jumped out of the way of its opponent's attack, then slashed at it with a glowing, black claw. The Elekid went down, fainting after getting hit by that. "Yes! We did it! We won!" The girl jumped up and down with glee. Her Pokemon was so happy about its victory that it ran over and leapt into its trainer's arms. "You're amazing, Mimikyu!" The girl said."

Acerola came over to the girl and her Pokemon. "Looks like you and Mimikyu are making quite the powerful pair." She said. "Do you think you'll wanna take the Island Challenge?"

The girl thought for a moment. "I don't know." She said. "It sounds like fun, but… I don't think that's what I want to do."

"Well, what _do_ you want to do then?" Acerola asked.

The girl thought long and hard for a moment. What _did_ she want to do? She didn't feel like she wanted to become a battling champion, or even compete as a Pokemon Coordinator. The only things she really knew she liked was reading books and learning more about Pokemon, even though she could never get close to any besides her Mimikyu. Then it hit her. "I want to be a Pokemon Professor!" She said. "I wanna travel the world, learning all I can about every single Pokemon there is!"

Acerola smiled. "Well, maybe I can help with that." She said. "Prof. Kukui's old assistant just left for another region. Maybe I can convince him to hire you to be their replacement."

"You really think you could do that?" The girl asked excitedly.

"Definitely." Acerola replied. "I'll go make the call right now."

The girl was practically dancing with glee as Acerola went off to call the Professor. First she had found a Pokemon that actually liked her, and now she might get her first job as a Pokemon researcher. It seemed like everything was finally starting to fall into place.

 **…**

"Come on, Eevee! Stay strong!"

"Machamp, use Focus Blast!"

Eevee cried out as he was hit by a powerful blast of energy. Despite this, he managed to stagger to his feet. "Vee!" He said strongly.

"That's the spirit, Eevee!" The boy said encouragingly. It was the final round of the Indigo League Conference, and both the boy and his competitor were down to one Pokemon each. The boy had his Eevee and his opponent, a girl his age named Jackie, had her Machamp. Both their Pokemon had taken significant damage during the battle. They both knew that the next hit would most likely decide the whole thing.

"Machamp, use Dynamic Punch!" Jackie commanded.

"Eevee, use Take Down!"

Both Pokemon rushed at each other, but Eevee managed to get under Machamp's arm and hit his directly in the gut. "All right, Eevee!" The boy yelled. Machamp stumbled after taking such a big hit, but it was Eevee who fainted first. "What?! No!"

"Eevee is unable to battle." The referee announced. "Machamp is the winner, which means the victor is Jackie!"

"Eevee!" The boy rushed out onto the field to pick up his unconscious Pokemon. "What happened out there? You hit him! Why did _you_ faint?"

"Ee… Vee…" Eevee said weakly.

The boy smiled and took Eevee up in his arms. "It's okay, Eevee. You take a nice rest. We'll win for sure next time!"

Jackie walked out onto the field to shake the boy's hand. "That was a tough battle." She said. "It was fun, though. Sorry you lost."

The boy smiled and shook Jackie's hand proudly. "Yeah, it _was_ fun." He replied. "Good luck with the Elite Four." Jackie smiled and left to accept her trophy for winning the competition.

The boy returned home to Pallet Town later to drop off his captured Pokemon at the lab with Prof. Oak. "I'm going to keep training," He said to Gary, "and, someday, I'm going to come back and win the Indigo League."

"I'm sure you will." Gary replied. "Are you sure you don't want to take any of these Pokemon with you to… Where did you say you were going?"

"Unova." The boy responded. "And, no. I want to start fresh in a new region. Just me and Eevee. Right, Eevee?"

"Vee!"

Gary chuckled. "Okay, then. Good luck."

Gary watched as the boy walked out back on the trail to a new region. "Just like Ashy boy." He said to himself. "Good luck, kid."

 **…**

It was finally time for the Hoenn Grand Contest Festival! Everyone was excited, all except for one person. A girl sat in the audience with her mother, father, and sister, woith her ribbon case in her hands with only four ribbons in it.

"I'm sorry you aren't going to be able to compete." The girl's mother said to her.

"It's okay." The girl said. "I'm gonna keep trying. I'll make it to the Grand Festival one day!"

Her mom smiled down at her. "You know, the Kalos Contest season is about to start. Maybe you could go there."

The girl smiled. "Yeah… Maybe."

As the opening ceremonies started, the girl started planning her journey in her head. _I'll go to Kalos_ , she thought, _and I'm gonna win every contest there! Me and Mimey are going to make it to the Grand Festival someday, somehow no matter what!_

 **…**

"Aerodactyl, use Flamethrower!"

"Dodge it, Luxray, and use Thunder!"

"Luxraaaay!" Luxray roared as it fired a bolt of lightning at Aerodactyl, knocking it out of the sky and causing it to faint.

"Aerodactyl! No!" The boy cried.

"Aerodactyl is unable to battle." The referee announced. "The winner is Luxray, which means victory goes to the Gym Leader, Volkner!"

The boy rushed forward to help his fallen Pokemon. Volkner walked up to him. "You're a decent battler, but you overthink your tactics too much." Volkner observed. "I'm sorry you didn't win today, but, even if you did, there's no way you would be able to make it to the Sinnoh League Conference. It starts tomorrow. You'd never make it to the location on time."

"I wasn't going to enter the Conference." The boy replied glumly. "I just wanted to earn eight badges. But it looks like I won't be able to do that now."

Volkner looked at the boy and felt sorry for him. He placed a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry, champ. There's always next year. And, besides, the Pokemon League in Johto is supposed to start in just a few days. Maybe you could head there to get some badges."

The boy sniffled and smiled. "Yeah… I think I will!"

The boy walked out of the Gym with his Aerodactyl feeling confident as ever. He took out his badge case and wasn't even bothered by the fact that he had only managed to acquire seven badges. _I can still do it!_ He thought. _I'll get eight badges from eight regions and become a Gym Leader! Maybe not from here, but I'll get them somewhere!_ "Come on, Aerodactyl! We're going to keep training and get even stronger!"

"Dactyyyyl!" Aerodactyl roared confidently, flying after his trainer.

…

"Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"Just a few more minutes. There we go. All bandaged up." Prof. Kukui stood up, just now finished patching up his young assistant after a run in with a swarm of Ribombee they had been trying to study. "Sorry that happened to you, cousin." He said. "Ribombee are usually so peaceful. Never seen them just attack somebody like that."

"It's okay." The girl said glumly, rubbing her aching, bandaged arms. "I'm used to it."

Prof. Kukui could tell that it wasn't okay, though. In all his years as a Professor, he had never seen any one person that every Pokemon seemed to just universally hate. It made him sad to watch this girl get attacked again and again every time they tried to go out on a research mission.

Suddenly, from the girl's pocketed Pokeball, her Mimikyu popped out and snuggled up to her. The girl patted her Pokemon's head sweetly, causing Kukui to smile. "You know, Pokemon have a way of sensing certain feelings a trainer might be having." He told her.

"Really?" His assistant asked.

"Yeah." Kukui replied. "They can sense when a trainer's happy, or angry, or sad. Kind of like what your Mimikyu just did, coming out of its ball like that." The girl looked down at her Mimikyu and smiled a little. "Pokemon can also sense when a person is afraid of them." Kukui went on. "That feeling can actually cause them to attack you more. Maybe that's why Pokemon are always going after you. Maybe they can sense your fear of being attacked, and they just go right at ya."

"Maybe." The girl said, though she highly doubted that was why she kept getting attacked.

"You know, maybe you could try getting some field experience with non-Alolan Pokemon." Prof. Kukui suggested. "My friend up in Hoenn, Prof. Birch, is needing a new assistant. Maybe you could travel up there and try working for him for a while. Get some time with Pokemon that aren't from Alola."

The girl took a while to respond to this suggestion. Finally, she looked up at Prof. Kukui with a small smile. "Okay." She said. "I guess I could try it."

"Great!" Prof. Kukui said. "Why don't you head home and get some sleep. You can set sail for Hoenn first thing in the morning."

The girl left Prof. Kukui's lab and started walking towards the ferry station in Hau'oli City to get a ride back to Ula'ula Island. For some reason, she had a good feeling about her new journey to a new region in the morning, and she knew that, no matter where she went, it would always be amazing as long as she had her Mimikyu.

 **…**

"Make a wish, sweetheart."

"Dad, I'm not a little girl anymore!" A girl sat at a table with her father. In front of her was a birthday cake with 16 candles on it. It was her 16th birthday today.

"I know, darling, but a father can pretend, can't he?"

The girl smiled. "Yeah, okay." She closed her eyes, made a wish, and blew out the candles.

"What did you wish for?" Her father asked her, cutting her a slice of cake.

"The same thing I wish for every year." The girl said a little stiffly.

"Well, I think you'll be happier this year with how it turns out."

"What do you mean?"

Her father reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out a Pokeball. "Happy birthday, princess!"

The girl gasped and took the Pokeball. "Oh, daddy! You're the best!" She hugged her father.

"Anything for my little girl."

"Yeah, it only took you six years." The girl said sarcastically, throwing the Pokeball in the air. Out of it came a female Nidoran.

"Nidoran!" The Nidoran squeaked.

"Oh, daddy, I love her!" The girl squealed. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"You're welcome, princess." The girl's father felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. "Excuse me for a moment, won't you?" He left his daughter to play with her new Pokemon and went into the next room to answer his phone. "This better be good."

"Sorry, boss. Am I interrupting something?"

"No, it's fine." Giovanni replied. "Proceed with your report."

 _ **Five years later…**_

A boy and his Eevee were walking down the road to Pallet Town. It had been five years since they had been back to Kanto, but they were tired from travelling so much and needed a few days of rest at home. However, home was not where they were heading. First, they had to go to the Pokemon lab. He knocked on the door and Prof. Oak answered. "Hey, Prof. Oak!" The boy said. "I wanted to see my Pokemon real quick before heading home. Where are they?"

"They're all out back." Gary replied. "Come out and see them. I know they'll all be excited to see you."

The boy rushed to the back of the lab and burst through the back door. "Hey, everybod- Whaa!" He yelled as he was swarmed by seven regions worth of Pokemon.

There was his Beedrill, Vileplume, Jigglypuff, Rhyhorn, and Magmar from Kanto, his Croconaw, Xatu, Snubbull, Scizor, and Houndour from Johto, his Swampert, Mightyena, Loudred, Grumpig, and Tropius from Hoenn, his Infernape, Roserade, Bronzor, Snover, and Yanmega from Sinnoh, his Servine, Simipour, Gurrdurr, Venipede, and Chandelure from Unova, his Delphox, Florges, Doublade, Trevenant, and Bergmite from Kalos, and his Rowlet, Bewear, Lycanroc, Charjabug, and Alolan Ninetails from Alola.

"It's great to see you all again!" The boy said as he was happily nuzzled, licked, and/or hugged by his many Pokemon.

"Is that our boy I hear?"

The boy looked up to see that his parents had arrived at the lab to see him. "Mom! Dad!" He got up and ran to hug them.

"You've grown so much! I can't believe you're already 15!" His mom said.

"So, what brings you back, son?" His dad asked.

"I thought I'd come back and hang out with you guys for a while before going off on my next big adventure."

"Any idea where you'll go next?" His mother asked.

"No idea." The boy replied. "I've been trying to decide on that for a while now."

His mother and father shared a look. "Maybe we can help you with that." His father said slyly.

"What do you mean?" His father pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to the boy. "Wow! Is this a ticket for the SS Anne?"

"Sure is!" His father replied.

"It's docking in a few days and we could only afford one ticket. Prof. Oak told us you were coming back to town, so we thought we'd buy the ticket for you." His mother added.

"Wow! Thanks, you guys! Thank you so much!" The boy hugged his parents again. "I'll miss you when I leave again. I love you."

His mother smiled. "We love you too, Ace."

…

A 15-year old girl and her Mime Jr walked into a Pokémon Center in Vermillion City, yawning tiredly. "Ugh…" She grumbled. "Another day, another stupid Contest lost. What's wrong with me, Mimey?"

"Mime Mime Mime." Mimey said comfortingly.

The girl smiled. "Yeah, I guess it wasn't too bad of a loss. We'll win for sure next time!"

The Center's Nurse Joy walked up to her. "Excuse me. Are you Cammie Pinkerton?"

"Yeah." The girl replied. "What's up?"

"There's a video call waiting for you. A girl named Patty."

Cammie groaned. What did her stupid sister want this time? Probably calling to brag about another one of her many, many Contest victories. Ugh. Cammie shuffled over to the video phone and picked up the call. "Cam-Cam!" Her sister said on the other end. "How are you?"

"Greeeeaaaat." Cammie lied. "I'm doing great. What's up, sis? Win another contest?"

"Well, yes, but that's not why I'm calling." Patty replied. "Mom and dad and I are all coming to visit you in Kanto tomorrow! Hey, by the way, how'd you do in the Contests there?"

"Oh, I did all right." Cammie replied. "Didn't win much, but still. Why are you all coming down?"

"To see you, of course, you silly goose!" Patty replied. "And to give you a little present to lift your spirits after all your terrible losses."

It took all of Cammie's willpower not to rip the video phone off its console after that comment. "What's the present?" She asked, managing to keep a straight face.

"They bought you a ticket for the SS Anne. It's supposed to be a secret, so try and act surprised when they give it to you tomorrow."

"Oh, my Arceus! That's amazing! I've always wanted to go on a cruise!"

"See you tomorrow, sis." Patty said, hanging up.

Cammie went up to her room with Mimey more excited than she'd ever been in the past few years. Finally, it looked like things were starting to go her way.

Meanwhile, at the video phone next to where Cammie just was, a 15-year old boy was on the phone with his father, Roark. An Aerodactyl stood next to him. "So, yeah," he said, "I couldn't get enough badges in time. Only got four this time around."

"Yeah, those Kanto leaders are tough." Roark replied. "But I got good news. I sent you something in the mail. Should arrive sometime tomorrow."

"What is it?"

"A ticket for the SS Anne. It's this big cruise ship that comes to Kanto once a year."

"Wow! Sweet! Where's it going?"

"I don't know, but I know, wherever it is, you'll do great there. Chris, you're going to become a Gym Leader. I just know it. And wherever this ship stops is going to be the first step to getting there."

Chris smiled. "I know, dad. Thanks for the ticket. I gotta go." Chris hung up and turned to his Aerodactyl. "This is it, buddy! This time, we're going to get those eight badges!"

"Aerodactyl!" Aerodactyl said confidently.

"Come on. Let's go to bed. We've got a big journey ahead of us."

Chris and his Aerodactyl went up to their room to sleep for the night. In the room next to them, a girl and her Mimikyu were making a call to home. "Hey, Annie! It's great to hear from you!" Acerola said on the other end of the line. "How's working for Prof. Oak working out?"

"Okay, I guess." Annie replied. "I did manage to gather some data on a group of Digletts and not get attacked. Though, that was probably because of all the Max Repels I was wearing."

"Hey, buck up there, champ!" Acerola said. "I have just the thing to cheer you up! Prof. Kukui and I pulled some strings, and we got you a ticket for the SS Anne!"

"Really? Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Annie said excitedly.

"Yep. The ticket should arrive tomorrow. Let me know how the next leg of your journey goes."

"Okay, thanks! I will!" Annie hanged up the phone and went to turn the light off in her room. As she got under the covers, she felt a long, black hand wrap around her followed by the gentle sounds of her Mimikyu drifting off to sleep. Annie closed her eyes as well, dreaming of what new adventures would await her in this new region she was travelling to.

 **…**

Giovanni sat at his desk, patiently waiting and stroking his Persian next to him. He was waiting for someone. She would arrive at any minute.

There was a knock at the door. "Enter." Giovanni said.

A 21-year old girl entered. She wore the classic black Team Rocket uniform, having just finished her training at a remote Team Rocket base. She stood at attention and saluted him. "Operative Lucy reporting for duty, sir." The girl said.

Giovanni stood up. "Cut the formalities and come give your father a hug." He said. Lucy stayed standing still at attention, ever the excellent Team member. Giovanni smiled. His daughter never failed to impress him. "Very well, then." He sat back down. "I have your first assignment, Lucy."

"I'm ready, sir." Lucy replied. "I live to serve Team Rocket."

Giovanni smiled. He pulled an envelope out of his desk drawer and set it on the desk. "Inside this envelope is a ticket for the SS Anne. It's heading for a region called Insmou, which is famous for its wide variety of Pokemon. Your job is to go to Insmou and obtain as many Pokemon from that region, and from the SS Anne, as you can by any means necessary."

"Yes, sir. I promise you that I will complete this mission for the honor of Team Rocket."

"Excellent. And, Lucy?" Lucy looked at her father. He stood up again. "Be safe."

Lucy smiled and broke out of her formal stance to hug her father. "I love you, dad." She said.

"I love you too, princess." The hug ended. Lucy saluted again and turned to exit. "One more thing, Lucy." Lucy stopped and turned back to her father. "Just as a precaution, I'm assigning you a partner for this mission."

"A partner? Sir, with all due respect, I do not need a partner!"

"Regardless of your needs, I'm assigning you one." The door opened and in stepped a man with long, blonde hair that contained far too much hair gel. He also wore the typical black Team Rocket uniform, but his uniform consisted of a tank top instead of the usual long-sleeved shirt of male agents. "Meet Charles. He'll be your partner for the mission."

"Nice to meet you." Charles said, extending his hand to shake. Lucy didn't take it, instead choosing to step forward and get up in his face.

"Let's get one thing straight, _Charles_ ," She growled, putting extra malice into saying his name, "I'm in charge here. _You_ listen to _me_. Got it?"

Charles smiled annoyingly. "You? Ordering me around? Pfft. Yeah, right. I'm always on top, princess. I don't care that you're the boss' daughter. Nobody orders me around."

Lucy narrowed her eyes. "We'll see about that." She stepped back and drew out a Pokeball. "Nidorina, come out now!" She threw the Pokeball and out came her Nidorina, a Pokemon that she'd had for five years. "If you think you're so tough, prove it. Battle me. Now!"

Charles looked unimpressed by Lucy's Pokemon. "All right then. Magnemite, I choose you!" He tossed out his own Pokeball, sending out a Magnemite.

"Magnemite." The Magnemite said in a deep, machine-like voice.

"Sir, do you mind if we battle here real quick?" Lucy asked. "I promise this won't last long."

"By all means." Giovanni said. His daughter made him prouder and prouder every day. He just hoped that she could handle the mission he had assigned her. Insmou had a Team of its own, and it was a dangerous one. But, if anyone could stop them, it was Lucy.

Four different paths heading in the same direction, all with different goals in mind. What will become of our new heroes and villains? We'll find out as the journey continues!


	2. Chapter 2

_**Aboard The SS Anne**_

Ace stood in line with Eevee on his shoulder, waiting to board the world-famous SS Anne. "This is gonna be it, Eevee! The next region we wind up in is the one we're going to win at! Are you ready?"

"Vee! Eevee!" Eevee said excitedly. Ace grinned. Seven regions and seven times he had lost the Pokemon League (Granted, that last one didn't really have one). Each time, he had come within an inch of victory, but could never quite reach it. But this time was going to be different for sure! This time he was going to make his hero proud!

Ace had grown up in Pallet Town, living right down the road from the Pokemon Lab. He used to spend every day there helping to take care of all the Pokemon that lived there and learning everything he could from the two professors that worked there: Prof. Oak and Ace's idol, Prof. Ketchum.

Ace would spend hours of his youth listening to Prof. Ketchum's incredible stories of his own Pokemon adventures. Battling evildoers, meeting rare Pokemon, and travelling all over the world with his partner, Pikachu. All Ace wanted for practically his whole childhood was to have a bond with a Pokemon like that of Prof. Ketchum and his Pikachu. And he finally felt like he had that with Eevee.

Meanwhile, a few people back in line, Cammie stood with her Mime Jr, Mimey, in her arms. She was nervous, but also excited to be going on this new journey to this new region: Insmou. Over the course of the day, she had been forced to listen to her sister tell her stories about the time she spent in Insmou herself. "The cities are so beautiful! And, there's this lighthouse in this one town that's just sooooo amazing!" Patty had said. "It's rumored that, if you see the sunset at the top of it with someone special, you'll be together forever. I actually took my boyfriend up there, and we both loved it! Ooh! Make sure you try the Dreamy Cremes they have there too! Best dessert ever!"

"Yeah, sounds amazing." Cammie had said, trying not to sound bored. "What are the Contests like?"

"Oh, everyone there is super talented! I barely even managed to win the Grand Festival! But I'm sure you'll do just fine."

Mimey seemed to sense how nervous Cammie was. "Mime Mime Mime?" He asked her.

Cammie took a deep breath. "I'm okay, Mimey. This time, we're going to go to the Grand Festival for sure! And we're gonna win!"

"Mime Mime!" Mimey replied excitedly.

And, just a few people behind her stood Chris with his Aerodactyl. "You'll probably have to get back in your Pokeball before we board." Chris said to Aerodactyl. "I doubt the crew would be happy having a giant, prehistoric Pokémon out in the open onboard."

"Dactyl Dac." Aerodactyl replied understandingly.

Chris smiled. "Don't worry, buddy. It's just a short boat ride, then you can soar through the skies as much as you want. I can tell we're both going to be flying high this time. Things are going to be different. I can feel it."

"Dactyl!" Aerodactyl agreed.

Chris patted his partner's head and returned him to his Pokeball. Meanwhile, towards the front of the line, Annie stood nervously with her Mimikyu in her arms watching a Pidgey perched on the trainer in front of her's shoulder. The tiny bird Pokemon was glaring at her, and Annie could tell that, if she made one wrong move, it would attack. "H-hi there." She said, waving politely to the Pidgey.

"Pidge! Pidgey!" The bird Pokemon squawked.

"K-k-k-kyu!" Annie's Mimikyu growled. Whatever Mimikyu said, it was enough to scare the Pidgey out of attacking.

"Thanks, Mimikyu." Annie said. "Hopefully, once we get on board the ship, things will be better."

Meanwhile, towards the front of the line, a man and a woman, both wearing clever disguises, were waiting to get their tickets checked. "I don't see why we have to wear these stupid costumes." Lucy complained.

"Well, we don't want anyone to know who we really are, do we?" Charles replied.

"Nobody knows who we are anyway!" Lucy retorted. "Look, can we just-"

"Tickets please." They had finally reached the front of the line.

"Oh. Of course, sir." Lucy and Charles handed over their tickets.

"Okay, looks like you're bunking in cabin 6. It's on deck B1." The ticket man said.

"Deck B1?" Charles said as they boarded the ship. "Why does that sound like a bad thing?"

 **…**

"I knew that sounded like a bad thing!"

Lucy and Charles had finally reached deck B1, which turned out to be the basement of the ship. There was disgusting grease and grime everywhere, Rattatas and Nincadas were swarming around everywhere, and there was an eerie stench in the air that smelled suspiciously like death. "Your dad seriously couldn't have sprung for a better room?" Charles complained.

"He's thrifty when it comes to travel." Lucy explained.

Charles shuddered. "I feel like this place is haunted, or something. Can you feel that? It's like there's literally death all around us."

"That's just the smell from the sewage flap. You're worried about nothing."

But it wasn't nothing. As Lucy and Charles walked down the dark, eerie hall that was deck B1, an evil force was lurking just behind them, waiting for its moment to strike.

"Here we are." Lucy said as they reached their cabin. "Cabin 6"

The evil beast inched closer and closer, grinning maliciously as it grew nearer and nearer to its helpless prey.

They opened the door and were met with a stench that could only be described as Wailord carcass mixed with the smell of an extra-filthy Garbodor. "Oh, Arceus, that is just terrible!" Charles exclaimed, immediately covering his nose.

"At least the room looks nice." Lucy said, also shielding her nose from the smell.

The beast was finally close enough. It was about to strike, and its prey would be helpless to stop it…

"Rotooooooom!" Charles cried out from pain as he was electrocuted by a powerful Discharge attack. When it was over, his long, gelled hair was all poofed up, giving him the appearance of an oily lion. Lucy giggled at the sight of him, but Charles was furious. He turned around angrily to discover a tiny, orange little Pokemon giggling with glee over the amazing prank it had just pulled.

"You!" Charles growled. "Look what you did to my hair! I'll kill you, you little twerp!" He dived for the Rotom, but it just floated away from him, causing Charles to fall unceremoniously into a bit of deck B1's usual grime, dirtying his already ruined hair even more.

Lucy giggled more, but knew she had to help her hopeless partner. "Nidorina, go!" She called out her Pokemon. "Use Poison Sting!"

"Nidorina!" Nidorina fired several purple energy darts at the Rotom, hitting it perfectly and causing it to fall to the ground.

"Pokeball, go!" Lucy said as she threw a Pokeball at the Rotom. It wobbled once… Twice… Three times… Ding! The Rotom was caught! Lucy strolled forward and picked up the ball.

"Great! You caught it! Now give it to me so I can throw him in the ocean!" Charles said.

"No way! I'm keeping him!" Lucy retorted. "I like him. He's funny."

As Charles seethed with rage, Ace was busy checking out the events going on aboard the ship on one of the upper decks. "Let's see… There's a ping pong tournament, a shuffleboard social, Wailord spotting… Ooh! A battle gala!" Ace didn't know what a gala was, but seeing the word battle got him all fired up. "Let's see… Formal attire acquired. Aw, man! I gotta wear a tux?"

"Vee Eevee." Eevee said on his shoulder.

"Yeah, okay." Ace replied. "I guess it might be worth it to go. It starts at eight tonight, so we've got some time to kill. Wanna go train a little?"

"Vee!"

"That's the spirit."

Luckily, on the top deck, the SS Anne was equipped with several Pokemon battlefields. Ace went up there and began searching for the right opponent. Most of the battlefields were currently occupied with trainers hoping to get in a little extra practice before the Battle Gala. There was a trainer with a Venusaur battling one with a Slurpuff, another two trainers pitting their Throh and Sawk against each other, and a girl with a Mimikyu battling a boy with a Pokemon Ace had never even seen before. He really wanted to battle it, but, since its trainer was already battling that girl, he kept looking.

"Aerodactly, use Wing Attack!"

Ace turned in the direction of that command and saw a boy about his age with a brown buzzcut and a grey hoodie with the Sinnoh League's Coal Badge printed on it battling with his Aerodactyl. "Dactyyyyyl!" The Aerodactyl cried as its wings glowed with bright white light. It flew down and slammed into its opponent: a Hariyama that fainted from that super effective attack.

"Hariyama, return!" The boy's opponent said, returning his defeated Pokemon to its ball. "Nice job there." He said to the boy with the Aerodactyl. "That's one powerful Pokemon you've got."

"Thanks. I know." The boy said, petting his Aerodactyl on the head.

"Excuse me!" The boy turned around to see Ace. "Hey, can I battle you next?" He asked.

The boy smiled and stood up. "Only if you think you've got the skills to beat me." He said. "Name's Chris."

"I'm Ace." Ace replied, shaking Chris' hand. "So, what are you heading to Insmou for?"

"I'm planning on challenging the League there." Chris replied.

"Same here!" Ace said. "I'm gonna be the Insmou League Champion in no time!"

"You think so, do you?" Chris said with a smile. "Then let's see what you've got." Chris and Ace took their positions on the battlefield. "Aerodactyl, let's take him down!" Chris exclaimed.

"Dactyl!" Aerodactyl roared confidently.

"Eevee, I choose you!" Ace said. His Eevee jumped from his shoulder on to the battlefield.

"Vee! Eevee!" Eevee said, just as confident as its opponent.

"Aerodactyl, fly up and use Flamethrower!" Chris commanded. His Pokemon flew up into the sky and shot forth a blast of fire from its mouth.

"Eevee, dodge it and use Swift!" Ace yelled. Eevee jumped out of the way of the flames and shot a series of golden stars up at its opponent. The Aerodactyl took the attack, but, when the smoke cleared, it appeared to have sustained almost no damage at all. Ace grinned. This battle was going to be a good one.

Meanwhile, Cammie and her Mime Jr, Mimey, were making their own way up to the battlefields on the upper deck. "If we're gonna win that Battle Gala, we'd better train first." Cammie said to Mimey. "So, let's go and find- Ohhhhh, wow!"

Cammie laid her eyes on the boy who was battling the girl with the Mimikyu. He was incredibly handsome with blonde hair blowing in the wind, muscley arms, and a face that was more gorgeous than any other boys' Cammie had ever seen. Mimey groaned and put hits head in its hands. Here we go again.

Cammie rushed up to the boy and took his hand in hers. "Hello there." She purred in a flirty voice. "My name's Cammie, but you can go ahead and call me the girl of your dreams."

"E-excuse me?" The boy said nervously.

"Let's run away together!" Cammie went on. "We can go and settle down in a nice region with plenty of- Oop. Wait! Mimey! No!" Mimey was using Confusion to pull Cammie away from the boy, just like it always did whenever Cammie got a new crush (Which was way too often). However, Mimey stopped when it laid eyes on the girl with the Mimikyu. It began to get angry. More angry than it had ever been before.

"Mime Miiiiime!" Mimey yelled as he fired a Psybeam attack at the Mimikyu girl. The girl screamed in terror, but her Pokemon jumped up and blocked the Psybeam with a Shadow Claw attack.

"Oh, my Arceus! I am so sorry!" Cammie said, running up to the girl who her Pokemon had just attacked. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." The girl replied. "And don't worry about that. Pokemon sort of attack me a lot."

Cammie quickly returned Mimey to his ball before he could do more damage. "Well, let me make it up to you anyways." She said. "I could buy us some lunch if you want."

The girl smiled. "Thank you." She said. "That's very kind. I'm Annie, by the way."

"Cammie." Cammie replied, shaking hands with the girl. "Well, let's go get you that lunch I promised you." She turned to face the boy Annie had been battling. "See you later, cutie!" Cammie called over to him.

"Uh, yeah. Bye." The boy said awkwardly as he returned his Pokemon to its ball. Cammie realized then that the Pokemon the boy had been using was one she had never seen before.

"Hey, what kind of Pokemon was that boy using?" She asked Annie.

Annie pulled out a Pokedex. "I already got its entry." She said. "Here. Take a look."

Cammie turned on Annie's Pokedex. It pulled up a picture of the Pokemon the boy had used: a red and yellow raccoon-looking Pokemon with a flame on the end of its tail. "Sparkoon," the Pokedex said, "the Fire Rodent Pokemon. This Pokemon is nocturnal and can typically be found trying to break into people's homes to steal their food, though the flame on the end of its tail usually gives it away."

"Sparkoon, huh?" Cammie said. "Is that a Pokemon from another region."

Annie nodded. "It's actually one of the starter Pokemon from Insmou." She explained.

As Cammie and Annie went to go get lunch, Cammie began wondering more about the Pokemon of the Insmou region, and which ones she would be capturing when she got there.

Meanwhile, Ace and Chris were just about to finish their battle. "Eevee, us Double Team!" Ace commanded.

"Vee!" Eevee created several duplicates of itself that then began running in a circle below Chris' Aerodactyl. The Aerodactyl couldn't tell which one was the real Eevee.

"Aerodactyl, use Rock Tomb to destroy the copies!" Chris said.

Aerodactyl summoned a series of stones from the air, then sent them hurtling towards the Eevee copies, destroying each and every one of them. Fortunately, the real Eevee hadn't been hit.

"Eevee, jump on the rocks then use Take Down on Aerodactyl!" Ace said. Eevee leapt up onto the rocks, jumping from rock to rock until finally it tackled Aerodactyl, sending it hurtling towards the ground.

"Aerodactyl! No!" Chris yelled. Fortunately, Aerodactyl got back up, albeit with a little effort. Ace's Eevee was looking pretty tired too.

"All right, Eevee, finish him off with-"

"Attention, passengers," the captain's voice said over the ship's PA system, "tickets to the SS Anne's Battle Gala will be going on sale now. Please hurry up to reserve your spot at the event."

"Crud! We'd better get going then, Eevee!" Ace said.

"Eevee!" Eevee agreed, running over and jumping up on Ace's shoulder again.

"It was nice battling you, Chris!" Ace said as he ran off to get to the Battle Gala ticket line. "Hope we can finish it someday!"

"Yeah, same!" Chris said as he returned his Aerodactyl to its ball and ran off to get his ticket along with Ace.

Meanwhile, from around the corner, two sneaky criminals ducked down before the two trainers saw them. "Did you see that?" Lucy asked her partner.

"A pair of Pokemon prime for the picking!" Charles replied excitedly.

"If we're going to steal those two Pokemon, we're going to need to make a plan." Lucy said.

"Oh, I already have one." Charles said. He and Lucy sneaked back down to their cabin, plotting all the way down to steal their first Pokemon for the glory of Team Rocket.


	3. Chapter 3

_**The Battle Gala**_

"Ugh. Stupid itchy tux!"

Ace had finally arrived at the SS Anne's luxurious Battle Gala. Hundreds of trainers were there, all dressed in their best attire. Ace had been forced to rent a tuxedo from one of the shops aboard the ship. It had clearly been worn already by dozens of other people, and it was itchy and tight as all get out. Still, Ace powered through, with the hope of winning at this gala filling his veins with a fiery determination.

"Eevee?" His Eevee asked. Eevee was also dressed up, which, granted, was only a bow tie around his neck, but he still looked sharp.

"Don't worry, Eevee." Ace reassured him. "I'm fine. Now, let's go in there and win this thing!"

"Vee!" Ace and Eevee went to go mingle with some of the other trainers at the gala. Little did he know, he was being watched by two wicked villains

"So, what's the plan for stealing that brat's Eevee?" Lucy asked, wearing a gorgeous black dress.

"Don't worry about it." Charles replied, wearing a suit that looked like it went out of style about 30 years ago. "Just wait for my signal, and then we'll grab him and all the other Pokemon aboard this ship!"

Lucy still wanted to have a concrete plan, but, for now at least, she trusted her partner. After all, her dad had assigned him to her for a reason. She looked around the gala and saw several other rare Pokemon, including some she didn't even recognize, with other trainers. She saw a Bug Pokemon with a glowing, spiraly abdomen that looked like a fluorescent light bulb with one trainer, a girl who had a Pokemon that looked like an extremely muscular toad, and even a boy whose Pokemon looked like a porcupine in green armor with giant needle lances on each arm. Lucy grinned. If she and Charles played their cards right, they could nab all of these Pokemon right out from under their trainers' noses.

Meanwhile, one girl was more scared than excited about being surrounded by all these rare Pokemon. Annie felt like they were all staring at her, just waiting for a chance to attack. Fortunately, her Mimikyu was on guard, ready to protect her. Also, her new friend, Cammie, was with her too. Her Mime Jr, Mimey, was still glaring at Annie, but it seemed like it would still protect her if Cammie told it to.

"So, who do you think you'll be battling?" Cammie asked Annie.

"I don't know." Annie replied. "I just hope their Pokemon doesn't wind up attacking me instead."

"It'll be fine. Don't worry." Cammie said. "I hope I get to battle that cutie you were battling earlier."

"I hope you do too." Annie said. "It seemed like you really liked him."

"Mime mime mime." Mimey said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, please." Cammie said. "It doesn't happen _that_ often!"

"Mime mime." Mimey replied.

As Cammie continued to argue with her Mime Jr about how often she fell in love with guys, Chris was looking around at all the other trainers' Pokemon when he heard someone calling his name. "Hey, Chris!" Chris turned around to see Ace heading his way.

"Oh. Hey, Ace!" Chris said. "Glad you could make it."

"Yeah, same to you." Ace replied. "Isn't it so cool that all these Pokemon are here? I've never even seen most of them! Like, look at that one!" Ace pointed to one trainer's Pokemon that looked like a large Blue Jay with ice shards in place of feathers on its wings. He pulled out his Pokedex to check its entry.

"Frostbirde," the Pokedex said, "the Frostbite Pokemon and the evolved form of Bluezzard and Jayce. The average body temperature of a Frostbirde is -40 degrees Fahrenheit. Because of this, most of its feathers are frozen solid, creating blades made of pure ice."

"Whoa! So cool!" Ace said. "I hope I get to battle that Pokemon!"

"Well, it looks like we're about to find out who's battling who right now." Chris said, pointing up to the stage at the front of the ballroom. The captain of the ship was stepping up there to speak.

"Attention, everyone!" He said. Everyone in the room immediately got quiet. "First, I would like to formally welcome all of you aboard the SS Anne. I hope that we can all have a truly amazing experience aboard this ship." The gala attendees all clapped and cheered at that statement. "Now, on to the main event!" The captain went on. "On the back of everyone's ticket to the Battle Gala, you will find a number. Each person in attendance who chooses to battle will have one other person with the same number as their own. That is the person you shall be battling this evening. When the battles are done, the winners of each match will earn a very special prize. Now, let us begin the Battle Gala!"

All the attendees rushed around to find their matches. "What number do you have, Ace?" Chris asked.

"Number eight." Ace replied. He had a good feeling about this number, as he had always felt that eight was sort of a lucky number since it took eight gym badges to enter the Pokemon League of each region. "What about you, Chris?"

"Number 76." Chris replied. Both trainers were a bit bummed that they wouldn't get the chance to finish their previous battle here, but they quickly moved past that and went searching for their opponents. "Hello?" Chris called. "Number 76? Who's got the number 76?"

"I do!" Chris turned around to see a girl with red, curly hair wearing a sea blue dress. "I'm number 76." Cammie said.

While Chris and Cammie got ready to battle each other, Annie was searching for her own battle partner. "Now then, who else has got number eight?" She wondered aloud.

Ace, who was standing just a few feet away, heard her and shouted excitedly, "Hey! I'm number eight! That's me!" He ran up to Annie. The two of them stood there for a moment. For some reason, they each felt some sort of highly-competitive energy with each other. They were getting extremely fired up and were both ready to take the other one down. "Eevee, you're up!" Ace said.

"Eevee!" Eevee jumped down off of Ace's shoulder. Annie was thankful that the little Pokemon didn't decide to attack her.

"Mimikyu, go!" Annie's Mimikyu leapt from her arms and got down on the battlefield.

"K-k-k-kyu!" Mimikyu growled. It felt the same sort of intense rivalry with Eevee that Annie felt with Ace.

"Mimikyu, use Play Rough!" Annie commanded.

"Dodge it, Eevee, then use Shadow Ball!"

Eevee jumped out of Mimikyu's way, but got tripped up as Mimikyu reached out with its one, long, black claw and pulled Eevee towards it. It kicked up a cloud of dust as it repeatedly pounded away at Eevee with its Play Rough attack. Fortunately, Eevee managed to blast it away with a Shadow Ball. If it had been any other Pokemon, it would have taken a lot of damage, but, thanks to Mimikyu's Disguise ability, it was still safe.

"Mimikyu, use Play Rough again!"

"Eevee, use Double Team!" Eevee generated several copies of itself. Mimikyu leapt from copy to copy, trying to take Eevee out, but it only kept hitting fakes. "Now use Shadow Ball!"From behind Mimikyu, Eevee charged up a Shadow Ball attack and blasted Mimikyu with it. The little Ghost Pokemon took a lot of damage from it, but was still standing.

Meanwhile, Chris and Cammie were also giving everything they had to their battle. "Aerodactyl, use Rock Tomb!"

"Dodge it, Mimey!" Mimey gracefully leapt from one spot on the battlefield to the next as rocks came raining down on it. It managed to dodge every rock that Aerodactyl threw at it.

Chris began thinking about his next strategy. Cammie was obviously a Pokemon Coordinator based on the way her Mime Jr performed, so in order to combat a battle style like that, Chris had to predict how Mimey would move so that it looked as good as possible.

Unfortunately, Chris got so deep in thought that he forgot about the battle, giving Cammie a clear opening. "Mimey, use Teeter Dance!"

Mimey began dancing around the battlefield, generating an aura of confusion. "Don't look at it, Aerodactyl!" Chris shouted, but it was too late. Aerodactyl was confused. "All right, then. Use Flamethrower!" Aerodactyl generated a blast of flames in its mouth, but, unfortunately, the flames exploded as they were charging, sending Aerodactyl crashing to the ground.

Meanwhile, Lucy was in the middle of her own battle, waiting for Charles' signal. She still didn't think his plan, whatever it was, was going to work, but she still went along with it. "Nidorina, Double Kick! Let's go!" She commanded. Her Nidorina leapt forward and kicked her opponent's Golem once, then twice, and then it was over. Her opponent's Golem was unable to battle. "Yes!" Lucy cheered. Now all that was left to do was wait for Charles' signal. She still didn't actually know what to expect for that.

Despite not knowing what to expect, Lucy saw the signal and knew what it was immediately. She also groaned at her partner's stupidity, as he had flung off his tourist disguise revealing the Team Rocket uniform underneath, and yelled, "Lucy, now!" The entire gala stopped when they saw Charles in his Team Rocket uniform. "To protect the world from devastation…" Charles said, beginning the Team Rocket motto. He paused for a moment, then yelled, "Lucy, come on! The signal! Let's go!"

Lucy groaned and slipped out of her disguise too. "To unite all people within our nation..." She said in a monotonous and very annoyed voice.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love…"

"To extend our reach to the stars above…"

"Charles!"

"And Lucy."

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light…"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight." Once they were done with the motto, Lucy stormed over to Charles and grabbed him by the collar of his tank top. "Are you kidding me?!" She growled through gritted teeth. "The signal was to reveal ourselves in the middle of a gala with hundreds of people being able to fight against us?!"

"Well, when you say it like that, of course it sounds stupid." Charles said sheepishly.

Lucy took a calming breath. "Whatever." She said. "Nidorina, use Ice Beam to freeze everyone in their tracks!"

"Nidoriiiiinaaaaaa!" Her Nidorina shot a powerful Ice Beam attack at the gala's attendees, freezing most of them in their place, including Ace and Annie.

"Mimikyu, use Shadow Claw to break through the ice!" Annie commanded. Her Pokemon let loose its long, black claw, but it barely made a dent in the ice.

"Eevee, use Swift!" Ace commanded. Eevee shot several stars to try and break its trainer free from the ice, but was also unsuccessful.. "Aw, crud! We're toast!"

"No you're not!" Came Chris calling from across the ballroom. "Aerodactyl, free them both with Flamethrower!" Chris' Aerodactyl shook itself out of its previously-confused state and shot a blast of flames towards Annie and Ace. It melted them out of the ice, but also singed Ace's tux.

"Aw, man! This was a rental!" He cried.

Meanwhile, Lucy and Charles were making out like bandits, plucking Pokemon after Pokemon from their frozen owners. "See? Told you my plan would work." Charles bragged.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Lucy replied. "Let's just grab the rest of these Pokemon and get out of here."

"Hey!" Lucy and Charles turned to see Ace, Annie, Chris, and Cammie all standing with their Pokemon ready to battle. "You aren't taking anyone's Pokemon!" Ace declared. "Give them all back, or else!"

Lucy chuckled. "Kid, I don't think you realize who you;re dealing with." She said. "Nidorina, Poison Sting!"

Lucy's Nidorina fired a series of glowing, poisonous darts at the four trainers. Fortunately, they were prepared. "Mimey, block it with Confusion!" Cammie commanded.

"And, Mimikyu, use Shadow Ball!" Annie said.

"You too, Eevee!" Ace added.

Mimey summoned up a barrier of psychic energy to block the Poison Sting attack, and both Eevee and Mimikyu fired a pair of Shadow Balls. Nidorina dodged the first one, but got critically hit by the second one which sent her flying backwards. "Could use a little help here, partner." Lucy said to Charles.

"Right! Magnemite, come on out!" Charles threw up his Pokeball, and his Pokemon popped out of it.

"Magne-"

"Aerodactyl, use Flamethrower!" Charles' Magnemite was interrupted by a blast of fire directly to its face, throwing it into Charles and knocking him down.

"And, Mimey, use Psybeam on Nidorina!"

Mimey blasted Lucy's Nidorina with a beam of psychic energy, sending it flying into Lucy. Team Rocket was on the ground, and all of the Pokeballs they had taken had fallen out of their hands and pockets. "Is what I think's about to happen really about to happen?" Charles asked Lucy worriedly.

"Eevee, hit them with everything you've got!"

"You too, Mimey!"

"Aerodactyl, blast them!"

"Mimikyu, attack!"

As the four Pokemon all charged up their attacks, Lucy gave an annoyed sight. "Yep." She said as the attacks came towards them.

The attacks created an explosion, sending Lucy and Charles flying through the roof of the ballroom and out through the air above the SS Anne. "Okay, from now on, _I_ make the plans. Got it?" Lucy growled angrily as they soared through the sky.

"Look, it was a minor hiccup. A one time thing." Charles replied. "Seriously, my next plan will totally work to get us some rare Pokemon.

Lucy sighed. "You're an idiot." She said. "And it's because of you that _Team Rocket's blasting off again!_ " And, with that, Team Rocket disappeared into the sky.

Back aboard the SS Anne, several safety workers were working to unfreeze all the Battle Gala attendees. Everyone had gotten their Pokemon back, and the four trainers responsible were being thanked by the captain himself. "Thank you so much for saving us all from Team Rocket!" He said as he shook each of their hands one by one. "How can we ever repay you?"

"Well, maybe by not charging me for the singed tux?" Ace suggested. The captain immediately agreed to that and went off to make sure the other attendees were okay. Ace turned to face the others. "We made a pretty good team back there." He said.

"Yeah!" Chris agreed. "You three are pretty talented trainers."

"You are too." Cammie agreed.

"Hey, do you think that, after the ship has docked and everything, we can all hang out together at least once?" Annie asked, hoping she didn't sound as desperate for friends as she really was.

"Of course." Ace said. "Besides, I've got two battles to finish with you guys." He said to Chris and Annie.

Four young trainers forming a bond of friendship, two evildoers sent soaring through the skies, and still more battles to be had and new Pokemon to be found. All this and more as the journey continues.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Starting The Ultimate Journey Together**_

Over the course of the last two days on the SS Anne, Ace, Cammie, Chris, and Annie were basically inseparable. The four of them all hung out together as much as they could during their time on the ship, battling against each other, sharing stories from their journeys in the past, and just relaxing and hanging out in general. It seemed that, as the four of them all got to know each other better, the closer friends they became, even though they each knew that they would be splitting up after they docked in Insmou.

It was their last day aboard the SS Anne, and the four trainers were enjoying lunch in the buffet area of the ship. "So, where do you guys think you'll go first when we get there?" Annie asked.

"I don't know." Ace replied. "Guess I never really thought about it. I'll probably be heading to wherever the closest Gym is."

"That would be Bluemount City." Cammie said after checking her Pokenav. "Mimey and I are going to Harborstone City to compete in the Contest being held there."

"I'll probably be going the same way Ace is." Chris said. "You know, since we're both going for Gym Badges and everything. What about you, Annie?"

Annie honestly wasn't sure where she would be going first. She had been hoping to have at least one travelling companion to help keep her safe, but since the only friends she had made aboard the ship were going to be leaving her when it docked… "I guess I'll just stay in the town we dock at." She replied, hoping she didn't sound as sad as she really was. "You know, maybe get a job helping the region's Professor."

Before any of the others could respond, they noticed that several other people were all flocking excitedly to the bow of the ship. The four trainers all got up to go see what everyone was so excited about. "Whoa…" Ace said, in awe of what they saw.

The SS Anne was approaching a town that looked like a picture straight out of a tourist brochure. The town's harbor was beautiful and had several large boats and yachts docked in it, the buildings were all so small and quaint, and, from where they were all standing, they could see a path leading up to a large, futuristic-looking building that couldn't be anything else but the region's Pokemon Lab. "Ladies and gentlemen," the captain's voice said over the loudspeaker, "welcome to Insmou."

 **…**

"Ugh! I don't think I'll ever be able to get rid of this smell!"

"Will you relax? It isn't that bad."

That comment earned Charles a slap upside the head from Lucy. "Not that bad?" She retorted. "We had to spend the last two days on a fishing barge because _you_ got us blown off the SS Anne! Ugh. I hate the smell of stupid fish."

As the two Team Rocket members walked down the dock in the port of Tarantine Town, Lucy kept seething about how Charles had gotten them into this mess. After blasting off back aboard the SS Anne, the two of them had drifted in the ocean until a passing fishing barge picked them up. They had to pay the captain of the barge a rather large sum (Which was pretty much all the money they had been given by Team Rocket for their trip), but he eventually agreed to drop them off at Insmou. Lucy looked in her wallet and found that they barely had enough cash left over for a small meal. "Now what are we supposed to do?" She wondered aloud.

"Simple." Charles replied. "We find the nearest hotspot of priceless Pokemon, steal them, and then sell them to earn back the money we lost."

"Right. Because your last plan worked out soooo well." Lucy said sarcastically. "And just where do you think we'll be able to find a 'hotspot' of Pokemon?"

Charles grinned. "Why do you think I had the barge captain drop us off here?" He pointed up a rather large hill towards the Pokemon Laboratory building. "That lab's bound to be filled to the brim with rare Pokemon." Charles explained. "We just need to break in and take what we need."

Lucy hated to admit it, but that did actually sound pretty smart. "Fine." She said. "But, if we get caught, I swear to Arceus…"

"We won't get caught." Charles reassured her. "Now, come on! Let's get over there while the Pokemon are ripe for the picking!"

Little did Charles and Lucy know that, as they were heading up to the Pokemon Lab, the four trainers who had defeated them aboard the SS Anne were already there. "Wow!" Annie breathed as she looked up at the futuristic-looking building. "It's amazing!"

The four trainers all went inside, only to be greeted by massive amounts of chaos. Somewhere, in the back of the lab, a man was fighting something. Something that sounded like it was causing a lot of trouble. "Hey! Get back here!" Someone was shouting deeper inside the lab. "No! Don't touch that! Just get back in the ball!" The four trainers all rushed towards the sound of the commotion and found that it was being caused by a man in a lab coat with long brown hair tied back in a ponytail and glasses trying to chase down a floating, little, purple Pokemon that had three needles on the top of its head. The little Pokemon kept floating just out of reach of the man, giggling and shooting some sort of sticky goo out of the needles on its head. "Return!" The man said desperately, holding up a strange-looking Pokeball. "Return, dang it!"

The purple Pokemon giggled and fired a blast of goo at the man, hitting him in the face and sending him falling to the ground. The Pokemon then started floating over towards the lab exit, which was just behind the four trainers.

"Mimey, come out and use Confusion!" Cammie said, throwing out her Pokeball. Mimey popped out of it and sent out a wave of psychic energy that hit the purple Pokemon and sent it crashing into a stack of research documents.

Fortunately, the damage it had sustained seemed to weaken it enough to allow the man in the lab coat to return it to its ball. The man readjusted his glasses and turned to thank Cammie. "Wow. That was pretty impressive." He said. "Thanks a-"

Before he could finish, Cammie ran up to him and took his hand. "I know what you're going to say," she said, clearly in love again, "and yes! I will run away together with you!"

"E-excuse me?" The man said, suddenly very flustered.

"You don't have to say anything." Cammie went on. "Just know that the love we have together will- Oop! Mimey, quit it!" Mimey was once again using Confusion to drag Cammie away from another one of her love interests.

"Mime Mime Mime." Mimey said, sounding exasperated.

Annie walked over to the man. "Sorry about that." She said. "We're actually here looking for the Professor."

"Oh, well I can help you with that." The man said. "I'm her assistant. Please, call me Milton."

"Nice to meet you." Annie replied. "I'm Annie, and this is Ace, Chris, and Cammie."

"What was that Pokemon you were trying to chase?" Ace asked. "I've never seen one like it before."

"It's an incredibly rare Pokemon called Poipole." Milton answered. "It's all a part of Prof. Hazel's research here. Come on. I'll show you."

Milton led the four trainers to a steel door at the back of the lab. He pressed his face up against what appeared to be a retinal scanner that unlocked the door. The door opened, revealing a large, enclosed, grassy area that was filled with all kinds of Pokemon like none the four trainers had ever seen before. There were several Nihilego floating above everything else, a few Buzzwole working to impress a couple of Pheromosas, a rather large group of Kartanas and Xurkitrees sparring against a Celesteela, and, in the middle of it all, there was a black woman in a lab coat with curly hair tied back in a poofy ponytail watching a rather large Guzzlord devour a huge pile of food as she took notes on it.

"Interesting." She said aloud to herself. "It appears that, no matter how much Guzzlord eats, it's still always hungry."

"Whoa! This is so cool!" Ace exclaimed excitedly as he looked around. Ace's burst of excitement caused the woman studying the Guzzlord to turn around.

"Ah, Milton." She said. "Good. Did you manage to wrangle our escaped Poipole?"

Milton walked over and handed the woman the strange-looking Pokeball he had used to capture the Poipole. "Yes, ma'am." He replied. "We may need to keep a closer eye on that one. He's pretty mischievous."

The woman looked behind Milton and noticed the four trainers. "Oh. And who might these young people be?" She asked, walking up to them.

"My name's Ace." Ace replied. "These are my friends, Cammie, Chris, and Annie. We were hoping to visit the Professor here."

The woman smiled. "Well, you found her." She replied happily. "My name is Prof. Hazel. Welcome."

Chris looked around nervously at all the large and scary-looking Pokemon inside the complex. "So, uh, what exactly are you researching here?" He asked with a rather shaky voice.

Prof. Hazel giggled. "There's no need to be nervous." She said. "Here at this lab, we study Ultra Beasts."

"Ultra Beasts?!" Annie exclaimed. She had heard stories about the Ultra Beasts back during her time living in Alola. She didn't know much about them except for two things: they came from another world and they were very dangerous. "Are you sure it's safe to be studying those?" She asked. Suddenly, a Nihilego swooped down towards Annie from above. "Eep!" Annie ducked down and cowered, as she knew the Beast was coming to attack her, but she was shocked to find that all the Beast did was give her a small hug with its tentacles and float away.

Prof. Hazel giggled. "Yes, it's perfectly safe." She reassured them. "We use special technology inside this building to create an aura similar to that of Ultra Space where these creatures are from. That way, they all stay relatively calm so we can learn more about them."

"So cool!" Ace exclaimed.

"So, why exactly did you four want to meet with me?" Prof. Hazel asked. "Are you looking to get your first Pokemon?"

"Actually, we already have Pokemon with us." Ace explained. He tossed up his Pokeball. "Eevee, come on out!"

"You too, Aerodactyl!"

"Come out too, Mimikyu!"

Ace, Chris, and Annie's Pokemon all popped out of their balls. Mimey hopped down out of Cammie's arms to join them. "Wow. These are some impressive-looking Pokemon you've got there." Prof. Hazel said. "But, if you want, I can still allow you all to choose another new Pokemon to help you all on your journeys."

"That would be great!" Cammie said. "Thank you so much!"

Prof. Hazel led the four trainers out of the nature complex and back into the main lab for them to receive a new starter Pokemon. Meanwhile, outside the lab, Charles and Lucy were trying to figure out how to break into it. They both stood in front of a door that lead into the nature complex that was guarded by a special number code electronic lock. "You realize we could have just walked in there pretending to be new trainers, right?" Lucy said to her partner.

"Relax. This'll be much easier." Charles said. He got up close to the number lock and carefully studied it. "Now, what could the code be to unlock this thing?" He wondered aloud. "The Professor's birthday?" He tried that code and was met with a buzzing sound, indicating that the code was wrong. "Okay… Her favorite Pokemon's dex number?" Another buzz. "Her measurements?"

As Charles was met with another buzz, Lucy couldn't help but ask a question. "How do you know what the Professor's measurements are?" She asked incredulously.

"Oh, I don't." Charles replied. "I'm just guessing."

"You're _guessing?!_ " Lucy said angrily. "That's it! Let me do this!" She shoved Charles aside and focused on the number lock herself.

"Pfft. Good luck." Charles said sarcastically. "If I can't crack the code, there's no way you could."

"Oh, really?" Lucy pulled out a Pokeball. "Rotom, come out now!"

From the Pokeball appeared the orange, little, Electric Pokemon that Lucy had caught aboard the SS Anne. "Rotom!" It squeaked excitedly. Rotom floated over to Charles and gave him another shock with Discharge, causing his hair to get all poofy again.

"Dang it! I hate that stupid thing!" Charles yelled as he tried to readjust his hair.

Lucy giggled. "You won't for long." She said. "Rotom, hack into the lab's security system!"

Rotom used its special power to interface with machines to go inside the security lock and deactivate it from the inside. Inside the lab's nature complex, Milton noticed that the lights were flickering. Not only that, but all of the Ultra Beasts inside the lab were starting to get angry. "Uh-oh…" He whimpered.

Meanwhile, out in the research area of the lab, Prof. Hazel was showing Ace, Chris, Cammie, and Annie the three starter Pokemon of the Insmou region. "Everyone, come out!" Prof. Hazel said as she threw up three Pokeballs. From them, came three Pokemon. The first one looked like a green woodchuck with extra large front teeth, the second was another Sparkoon like the one the trainers had all seen on the SS Anne, and the third was a blue weasel-looking Pokemon with a long, white stripe down its back. "These are the starter Pokemon offered here in the Insmou region." Prof. Hazel went on to explain. "First, there's the Grass type Woodcheek…."

"Woodcheek Wood!" The little woodchuck-looking Pokemon squeaked.

"Then there's the Fire type Sparkoon…"

"Spar-ar-ar-ar!" The Sparkoon chittered.

"And finally, we have the Water type Weasea."

"Weasea!" The weasel-looking Pokemon said rather proudly.

"Go ahead and pick whichever one you want." Prof. Hazel said.

The four trainers all looked at the three Pokemon sitting in front of them. Annie got down to say hello up close to them. "Hi there." She said sweetly. "I'm Annie. How are-"

"Woodcheeeeek!"

"Sparkooooon!"

"Weaseeeeaaaa!"

Annie was suddenly hit by three separate attacks from each of the Pokemon. She got bombarded by a Leafage from Woodcheek, hit in the face with an Ember from Sparkoon, and then dowsed by a Water Gun from the Weasea. "Oh, my Arceus! Are you okay?" Prof. Hazel asked, helping Annie to her feet.

"Don't worry." Annie said, trying not to sound sad. "I'm used to it. I think… I think I'll just stick with my Mimikyu for now."

Ace couldn't help but feel sorry for Annie, but he still wanted to pick his own new Pokemon. "I'll take this one." He said, picking up the Weasea and holding him up. "He looks like he'll be pretty useful in battles."

"Weeeaaa!" The Weasea squealed excitedly, happy to have been chosen. Ace pulled out his Pokedex to check Weasea's entry.

"Weasea," the Pokedex said, "The Water Weasel Pokemon. Weasea enjoys spending time on the shore, hunting for Binacles and Crustles to eat. It uses its amazing sense of smell to find them."

Cammie looked between the other two Pokemon and knew immediately which one she wanted. "I'll take this cute, little guy." She said, picking up the Sparkoon and stroking its fur. It felt warm to the touch, and the little raccoon Pokemon started nuzzling up to her affectionately. Cammie had known she was going to choose Sparkoon ever since she saw that cute boy who had one on the SS Anne. She wondered if she would ever see him again.

"Guess that leaves me with this fella." Chris said, patting the Woodcheek affectionately on the head.

"Woodcheek Wood!" The little Grass Pokemon said. It leapt up on to Chris' shoulder and started nuzzling him with its soft cheeks. Chris pulled out his Pokedex to get its entry.

"Woodcheek," the Pokedex said, "the Tree-Eating Pokemon. On average, Woodcheek can eat as many as 100 logs of wood in a day. It never tires from eating so much, and is actually the cause of much deforestation in the region."

As the trainers all celebrated having brand new Pokemon, they heard a commotion coming from inside the nature complex. "Help! Stay back! Get away!"

"Someone get us out of here!"

"Aaaaah! It's got me! It's got me! Heeeelp!"

The four trainers and Prof. Hazel all rushed back to the nature complex, only to discover that the Ultra Beasts inside it were all going wild. Milton was getting chased around by a Buzzwole that kept trying to hit him with Hammer Arm, but only wound up destroying most of the complex with its incredible strength, and Team Rocket was there too. Lucy was fighting off a hoard of Xurkitree with her Nidorina and Rotom, and Charles was being lifted up into the sky by a Nihilego while his Magnemite tried fruitlessly to attack it.

"How did those two even get in here?" Cammie asked incredulously.

"It doesn't matter how." Prof. Hazel said urgently. "What matters it that they've apparently tampered with the aura regulator that keeps the Ultra Beasts calm! You four save everyone! I'll go and fix the regulator!"

The four trainers all rushed forward to help. "Aerodactyl, go and use Flamethrower on that Nihilego!" Chris commanded. His Aerodactyl flew up and shot a burst of flames at the Nihilego that was holding Charles, burning it and causing it to drop its captive. Charles landed roughly on the ground.

"Ouch! Thanks, I guess." He muttered as he got up, rubbing his aching behind from that fall.

"Don't thank me yet!" Chris said worriedly. He pointed up to show that the Nihilego was coming back down for another attack.

"Magnemite, use Mirror Shot!" Charles commanded. His Magnemite charged up a shiny beam of energy, then fired it at the Nihilego, hitting it in the back and causing it to plummet to the ground and get knocked out. "Yes! Good job, Magne- What the…?"

Charles' Magnemite suddenly started glowing. It continued glowing as it grew two more heads and increased in size. Finally, the glowing stopped, leaving Charles with a brand new Pokemon. "Magneton!" The Pokemon said in three deep, machine-like voices at once.

Charles was so happy he was practically moved to tears. "Yes! Magnemite, you evolved!" He cheered. "Now, let's go and capture us some Ultra Beasts!"

"Seriously?" Ace said as his Eevee blasted away the Buzzwole that was chasing Milton. "You nearly got killed by one of those things and you still want to capture it?"

"Of course!" Charles said. "After all, these Pokemon are-"

"HEEEEELP!"

Charles' speech was interrupted by Lucy's cry for help. Her Nidorina had just been knocked out by the Xurkitree that were encircling her. All that was left was her Rotom, who had already sustained a ton of damage. "Oh, no! Lucy!" Charles yelled worriedly.

Annie ran forward with her Mimikyu and blocked the Xurkitree from reaching Lucy. "Don't hurt her!" She told them forcefully, trying not to sound scared. "I… I'm warning you!" Annie braced herself for the Xurkitree to attack, but nothing happened. They all just stood there, looking down at her for some reason. "What the…?"

Annie's thoughts were jarred by the Xurkitrees getting blasted apart by Mimey, who used Confusion to break up their group. "Good job, Mimey!" Cammie said. "Keep it up!"

"Thank you." Lucy said to Annie and Cammie. "But, just because you saved me, doesn't mean we're friends now."

"Yeah." Cammie said. "I figured as much."

Meanwhile, Ace and his Eevee were blasting Ultra Beast after Ultra Beast. It wasn't even about saving anyone anymore. Ace was filled with a white hot ball of fury for some reason. He didn't know why. All he knew was that he needed to destroy these Ultra Beasts. "Eevee, attack!" He yelled furiously. "Use Take Down!"

"Eeeeevee!" Eevee yelled defiantly as it rammed into a pair of Kartanas. The two Ultra Beasts were sent sprawling, but Ace wasn't finished with them yet.

"Now hit them with Shadow Ball!" He commanded.

"Ace! Dude, they're down!" Chris called from across the complex as his Aerodactyl fought with a Celesteela. "Leave them alone, man!" But Ace didn't hear him. All that mattered now was the destruction of these Ultra Beasts.

Before Eevee could attack again, however, a noise came from the far side of the complex, signaling the reactivation of the aura regulator. All of the Ultra Beasts calmed down, and Ace fell out of the trance he was in. "What the…?" He muttered. "What just happened?"

Prof. Hazel stepped out with a victorious grin. "Thanks for your help, kids." She said.

"Yeah. Seriously, thanks." Milton said, walking back over to everyone. "You guys saved my life."

Speaking of people whose lives had just been saved, Cammie looked behind Milton to see that Team Rocket was trying to get away with the Beast Ball that Milton had used to recapture the Poipole he had been chasing earlier. Some people just never learn. "Hey!" Cammie yelled. Lucy and Charles immediately stopped in their tracks. "You can't take that Pokeball!"

"Oh, really?" Charles said. "Well what are you going to do about it?"

Lucy groaned internally. _Here it comes_ , she thought. "Eevee, attack them with everything you've got!" Ace commanded.

"You too, Mimey!"

"Take them down, Aerodactyl!"

"Mimikyu, attack!"

All four attacks came hurtling towards Lucy and Charles, creating an explosion that sent them flying out through the complex's roof and through the skies. " _We're blasting off again!_ " The two of them screamed as they disappeared into the sky. The Poipole's Beast Ball came falling down and landed safely on the ground. Prof. Hazel went it go pick it back up. "Thank you, kids." She said. "You would think that those two would be grateful that you all saved their lives."

"Well, I guess that's just the kind of people they are." Cammie said.

"How did they manage to break the aura regulator in the first place?" Annie asked.

"I guess they must have used that Rotom they had to hack the security system. It must have accidentally short-circuited the aura regulator in the process. Prof. Hazel said. "Anyways, you kids had better get going if you want to make it to the next town by sundown. I assume you're all travelling together?"

The four trainers looked at each other. Despite the fact that they were all on different journeys, they had each accomplished the same goals. Defeating Team Rocket twice, sailing to a new region, receiving brand new Pokemon... It made sense to travel together.

"Yeah." Ace said. "Yeah, we are."

After thanking the Professor for their new Pokemon, Ace, Cammie, Chris, and Annie set off on the path to the next town. "According to my Pokenav, the next town is Brooksville Town." Cammie said. "We should make it there by nightfall if we hurry."

"Maybe when we get there we can get started training our new Pokemon!" Ace suggested excitedly. He couldn't wait to use his new Weasea in battle.

"So, Ace, what happened back there in the lab?" Chris asked. "Why'd you go all crazy attacking those Ultra Beasts?"

"I was going crazy?" Ace asked, having no idea what Chris was talking about.

"Yeah. You were… Uh, never mind." Chris figured that, if Ace didn't even know he was going berserk, he probably didn't know _why_ he was going berserk. So, he just didn't ask, figuring he would figure it out in time.

As the four trainers continued walking down the path to Brooksville Town, a shadowy group of people were meeting in a secret sanctum. Each person there was dressed in a black cloak and a mask that hid their faces. They all stood around a circle with magical symbols carved into it, chanting in an ancient, arcane language as their leader stood in the center of the circle. "For the resurrection of the Great Old One!" The leader said. "For the destruction of the old world order!"

"For the glory of Team Horror!" Everyone in the sanctum exclaimed. The circle began to glow. Everyone reacted excitedly as a beam of energy shot up out of the sanctum into the sky, creating a large tear in it: an Ultra Wormhole.

"Let the new reign of the Great Old One begin!"


	5. Chapter 5

_**New Creatures, New People, New World**_

"Weasea, use Water Gun!"

"Dodge it, Woodcheek, and use Leafage!"

It was morning at the Pokemon Center in Brooksville Town, and Ace and Chris were in the middle of a battle at the field out back. Ace's Weasea shot a blast of water at Chris' Woodcheek, which jumped out of the way and fired a series of glowing leaves from its mouth, directly hitting Weasea. "Weasea! You okay, bud?"

"Weasea!" Weasea said confidently as it got back up.

"Okay. Then go and hit him with Tackle!"

Meanwhile, Cammie was sitting with Annie on the sidelines, brushing her new Sparkoon's fur. "There you go, little guy." Cammie said sweetly to her new Pokemon. "How does that feel?"

"Koon Koon!" Sparkoon said happily.

Annie smiled a little as she watched Ace and Chris battle and Cammie pamper all their new Pokemon. She wished that she could have a new Pokemon from this region too, but that seemed highly unlikely, as every Pokemon she got close to attacked her. She couldn't explain it. That's just what always happened.

In the distance, behind some trees, a pair of large, yellow eyes were watching Annie. _Could she be the one? The one I was sent to look for?_ But, before the creature could come out, it sensed that someone else was nearby. Someone who wanted to capture it and keep it away from the girl.

"All right, you search over here. I'll investigate the woods." Ace and Chris stopped their battle, and Cammie stopped brushing her Sparkoon as they all turned to see a man with greying, choppy hair wearing a trenchcoat and a woman with long, purple hair wearing an official-looking black suit coming towards them. "Excuse us, kids. International Police." The man in the trenchcoat said, flashing the kids his badge. "Have any of you seen anything strange going on around this area?"

"Uh, no, sir." Chris said. "Why? Did something happen here?"

"I'm sorry, son. That's International Police business." The woman in the suit said. "Mr. Looker, come. We need to keep looking."

As the two International Police agents went into the woods, the four trainers were left wondering what could have happened that was so huge or terrible that the International Police was looking into it. They headed back inside the Pokemon Center so Ace and Chris could heal their Pokemon. "What do you think those two are investigating?" Ace asked.

"I bet it's Team Rocket again." Cammie said. "Those guys are bound to be around here somewhere."

"Maybe they're looking into a grisly serial killer." Chris said nervously. "In that case, we should probably leave town."

"I doubt they're looking into a serial killer." Annie said. "We would have heard about it."

Ace and Chris handed their Pokemon over to Nurse Joy, who took them and started heading towards the back room. "Still, what could have happened to bring the International Police to town?" Ace asked.

Nurse Joy stopped in her tracks and turned back to face the trainers. "Oh, you didn't hear?" She said.

"Hear what?" Annie asked.

"Well, people are saying that they saw an Ultra Wormhole open up in the sky late last night." Nurse Joy explained.

That got everyone's attention. "Whoa! Really?" Ace asked, in awe.

Nurse Joy nodded. "Yeah. And there are even more rumors that a new Ultra Beast came out of it. One that's never even been seen before!" She went on. "People have been looking in the woods near the Center all day trying to find it."

"Whoa! We gotta go do that, guys!" Ace said excitedly.

"Do what? Find an Ultra Beast?" Cammie asked. "Aren't they supposed to be dangerous?"

"Yeah, but we can totally handle it whatever it is!" Ace said. "Come on! This is the perfect chance to use our new Pokemon!"

The others all thought about it for a moment, but soon got just as pumped up as Ace. "Yeah! Let's go do it!" Chris said.

"This is going to be amazing!" Cammie said. "Let's capture that Ultra Beast!"

But Annie still wasn't sure. She knew that Ultra Beasts were dangerous, and, if they attacked her like every other Pokemon did, would their attacks be worse? No. She couldn't risk it. "I-I'm actually going to stay here." She stammered.

"What? Come on, Annie!" Ace said. "Think about how awesome it would be to capture an Ultra Beast!"

"I really don't want to go!" Annie said.

Ace was going to keep trying to encourage her, but Chris put a hand on his shoulder. "Let it go, man." He said. "It's fine if you want to stay here." He told Annie. Annie breathed a sigh of relief. Thank Arceus. She wasn't going to get hurt again.

"You can purchase Beast Balls up at the shop counter." Nurse Joy said. "Those are the Pokeballs you need to use on Ultra Beasts."

Ace, Chris, and Cammie all swarmed the shop counter. Chris and Cammie each bought five Beast Balls, but Ace bought six. As Chris and Cammie ran off to search for the Ultra Beast, Ace walked up to Annie and handed her the extra Beast Ball he had bought. "In case you want to join us." He said kindly. Annie smiled. She knew she wasn't going to join them, but it was nice that Ace still wanted her to.

Ace ran off into the woods after his friends. "All right. We should split up." He said when he caught up to them. "We'll cover more ground that way."

Chris and Cammie nodded and the trio split up. Ace went south towards the deeper, darker parts of the woods. He figured that an Ultra Beast would love a more wild terrain. Once he was nice and deep in the woods, he pulled out his two Pokeballs. "Eevee! Weasea! Come on out!" He tossed up his balls and his two Pokemon appeared.

"Vee Eevee!" Eevee said enthusiastically.

"Weaseeeeaaaa!" Weasea squealed happily.

Ace remembered something from his Pokedex the other day at the Pokemon Lab. Weasea was supposed to have an amazing sense of smell. "Weasea, see if you can sniff out the Ultra Beast!" Ace said.

"Weasea!" Wesea got down close to the ground and began sniffing around. After a few moments, he appeared to have found something. "Weasea! Weasea!" Weasea barked, pointing down one path deeper into the woods.

"Great! Lead the way, buddy!" Ace said. He and Eevee followed Weasea as it led them deeper into the woods. Ace could barely contain his excitement. He could be the first person to capture an undiscovered Ultra Beast!

 _The person to destroy that Ultra Beast._

Whoa. Where did that thought come from? Ace got so distracted wondering about that that he didn't notice where Weasea was leading him to. "Weaseeeeeaaa!" Weasea squealed excitedly as it came to a stop. In front of it was a large hive-shaped structure, easily big enough for a person or a few medium-sized Pokemon. The smell of fresh honey wafted out from it.

"Aw, man!" Ace whined. "Weasea, I wanted you to lead me to an Ultra Beast! Not a snack!"

Weasea didn't hear him. It was too busy drooling over the delicious honey inside that hive. It used a well-aimed Water Gun attack to blast the hive open, only for the Pokemon inside it to get really mad. They were all Bug types, with one of them being a rather large female bee-like Pokemon with an abdomen made of amber. There were three other bee Pokemon with her, though these were all males and looked like extremely buff, two-legged bees. "Monambar! Monam!" The female Pokemon said. Her three male Pokemon all flew up and surrounded Ace, Eevee, and Weasea.

"Oney! Oney! Oney!" The three males all buzzed.

"Whoa! What Pokemon are these?" Ace pulled out his Pokedex to check. He identified the female first.

"Monambarch," the Pokedex said, "the Amber Queen Pokemon. A Bug and Rock type and the female evolved form of Combcoon and Babee. This Pokemon is always surrounded by no less than three soldier servants to protect her and her precious honey." Ace then identified the three males. "Soldioney," the Pokedex said, "the Soldier Bee Pokemon. A Bug and Fighting type, and the male evolved form of Combcoon and Babee. These Pokemon act as servants to their Monambarch queen and will even sacrifice their lives to defend her. When these Pokemon are angered, they attack with everything they've got until their foe is defeated."

"Hoo boy." Ace whimpered. The three Soldioneys were buzzing more angrily and were inching closer to Ace and his Pokemon. "Uh, listen," Ace said, trying to not upset them any further, "this is all a huge misunderstanding. See, I was after this rare Pokemon-"

Unfortunately, the Soldioneys all thought that the rare Pokemon Ace was talking about was their Monambarch queen. The first Soldioney dove in, attacking with Fell Stinger. "Whoa!" Ace quickly dove out of the way. "Eevee, use Swift!" Eevee whipped its tail around, sending a volley of stars flying at the Soldioneys. They all took the attack, and didn't seem at all affected by it. "Okay then. Weasea, use Water Gun!"

Weasea shot a blast of water at one of the Soldioneys, but the Soldioney formed an energy shield in the shape of a honeycomb to block it. Ace didn't recognize that move, but his Pokedex told him it was called Honey Shield.

"Soldioney!" Each of the Soldioneys shot from their mouths blasts of honey which hit Ace and his team's feet, which hardened almost immediately, trapping them to the spot. That move was apparently called Amber Assault. The Soldioneys all inched closer and closer to Ace and his team, their stingers primed and ready.

"Be gentle." Ace whimpered. He hoped that his friends were having better luck finding the Ultra Beast than he was.

 **…**

While Ace had gone south into the woods, Cammie had taken the western path that traveled towards a flowing stream. She figured an Ultra Beast would be attracted to a more peaceful setting. All the better to cause mayhem in. "Mimey, Sparkoon, come out and help!" She said, tossing out her Pokeballs. Mimey and Sparkoon both appeared in front of her. "Mimey, see if you can sense anything near here." Cammie suggested. Since Mimey was a Psychic type, he could send out psychic waves of energy to detect others around him.

"Mime Mime!" Mimey said. It concentrated hard for a few moments, then pointed over towards a series of bushes across the river. "Mime Mime Mime!" He said.

"All right! Sparkoon, use Ember!" Cammie commanded.

Sparkoon sent a burst of flames hurtling towards the bushes. There was a small explosion followed by a very human-sounding "Ow…"

Cammie ran over and saw that a human girl wearing a blue jacket and jeans with blonde hair in a pixie cut was laying on the ground, her bottom having been scorched by Sparkoon's Ember. "Oh, my Arceus! I am so, so sorry!" Cammie said. "I thought you were the Ultra Beast."

"Seriously?" The girl asked, a small smile on her face. "Because I was actually about to attack you. I thought _you_ were the Ultra Beast."

Cammie helped the girl to her feet. "I'm Cammie, by the way." She said, extending her hand to shake.

"Jackie." The other girl replied, shaking Cammie's hand.

"So, how exactly were you planning on attacking me?" Cammie asked.

Jackie grinned. "Machamp, come on out!" She threw a Pokeball up in the air, causing a Machamp to appear in front of her.

"Ma Machamp!" It said, flexing its muscles proudly.

"Wow! Cool Machamp!" Cammie said. "This is my Mime Jr, Mimey, and this other guy is Sparkoon."

"Mime Mime." Mimey said, bowing graciously to greet Jackie and her Pokemon.

"Spark Sparkoon!" Sparkoon said.

"Wow! Those little guys are so cute!" Jackie said. "You're so lucky! I still haven't caught any Pokemon in this region."

"Well, if you want, I can help you find a good one to catch while we look for the Ultra Beast." Cammie said. "It's the least I can do after burning your butt."

Jackie giggled. "Sure. Thanks." The two girls started looking around for not just the Ultra Beast, but also some other Pokemon for Jackie to catch. Cammie waded through the river until she saw something that caught her eye. A large rock just up ahead appeared to be moving. She motioned for Jackie to come over and checked her Pokedex for this new Pokemon's entry.

"Shellith," the Pokedex said, "the Rock Shell Pokemon. A Rock and Ground type. The average Shellith can outlive its trainer by centuries if it's kept in good conditions. Some Shelliths discovered around the world are over 1000 years old."

"Could be a pretty good Pokemon to add to your team." Cammie said.

"Definitely." Jackie replied. She stood up and pointed at the Shellith. "Machamp, hit it with Focus Blast!"

"Maaaachamp!" Machamp said as it charged up then shot forward a ball of bright orange energy. It hit the Shellith, even landing a critical hit, but the Shellith seemed only barely affected by this. It slowly turned around to face its opponent. The Pokemon definitely looked old, as its face was covered with wrinkles, and its shell looked exactly like a medium-sized boulder.

"Shellith." It said, its voice even sounding slow. It raised its foot and brought it down on the ground, creating several large rock spikes that were heading towards Jackie's Machamp.

"It's using Stone Edge!" Jackie noticed. "Machamp, block it with Dynamic Punch!" Machamp's fist glowed orange and it slammed it into the stone spikes, destroying all of them in mere seconds. "Now use Focus Blast again!" Machamp charged up another ball of energy and shot it at the Shellith again. Another direct hit. This time, the tortoise Pokemon stumbled a bit. Jackie grinned and pulled a Pokeball from her belt. "Pokeball, go!" She exclaimed, tossing the ball at the Shellith. The Pokemon was sucked inside the ball, it wiggled once, twice, three times… Ding! The Shellith was caught!

"Yes!" Jackie ran over to pick up her new Pokemon. "I'd better run this little guy back to the Pokemon Center to heal him." She said.

"Yeah. I should probably be heading back their too." Cammie said. "It doesn't look like there's any sign of an Ultra Beast over here, and I need to meet back up with my friends."

"We can walk back together." Jackie suggested. "I'd love to hear about how you got your Pokemon."

 **...**

As Cammie and Jackie walked back to the Pokemon Center, Chris was still running through the woods with his Woodcheek by his side, searching for the Ultra Beast. He had decided to take the north path towards the more rocky region of the woods. He had assumed that, if this new Ultra Beast was anything like the ones he had seen, it would enjoy a more jagged, rough terrain to be around. "Man, where is it?" He wondered aloud. "Woodcheek, do you have any idea where it could be?"

"Woodcheek Wood." Woodcheek said, shrugging to indicate that it had no idea.

"All right then. Let's check over there." Chris and Woodcheek headed over past a small cluster of boulders towards a patch of leaves, only for a net to spring up and snare them above the ground when they stepped on them. "What the-? Hey! Help! Someone help me!" Chris yelled, struggling to break out of the net. He heard some malicious chuckling coming from nearby. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

"Gladly." Two figures in black clothes stepped out. Chris glared at them as they began their motto. "To protect the world from devastation…" Charles said.

"To unite all people within our nation…" Lucy added.

"To denounce the evils of-"

"Yeah, yeah. Skip the stupid motto." Chris said. "What are you two doing here?"

Charles and Lucy looked grumpy that Chris wouldn't let them continue the Team Rocket motto, but nevertheless explained why they were there. "Well, we heard that there was a particularly rare Pokemon in this area." Charles said. "And we had also heard that there were plenty of trainers looking to capture it. So, we figured that if we waited long enough, someone was bound to step into our trap so we could steal their Pokemon." He elbowed Lucy playfully. "Told you my plan would work this time."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "I suppose third time's the charm." She said. "Now, hand over your Pokemon, kid!"

"Yeah, see, I would," Chris said, "but I think you're forgetting something."

Charles chuckled. "And just what are we forgetting?" He asked.

Chris grinned. "Woodcheek isn't my only Pokemon."

Lucy and Charles both looked rather nervous now. "And where exactly is your other-"

"DACTYYYYYYL!" Lucy and Charles both looked up to see Chris' prehistoric powerhouse of an Aerodactly swooping down from the sky to attack them.

"Aw, crud." Lucy said, wondering why she hadn't come to expect stuff like this happening sooner.

 **...**

Back at the Pokemon Center, Annie was training with her Mimikyu, having it spar against the set of trees at the entrance to the woods, when she heard the sound of an explosion followed by a distant cry of " _We're blasting off again!_ "

"What was that?" She asked, looking out towards the woods. She thought about it for a moment, then just shrugged it off and went back to training. "Mimikyu, use Shadow Ball on that tree!"

"K-k-k-kyu!" Mimikyu said as it charged up a Shadow Ball attack and blasted the tree Annie was pointing at with it, shattering it into splinters.

"Now use Shadow Claw on the one next to it!" Mimikyu summoned up its long, black claw and sliced several of the branches of the other tree off in one clean swipe. "You're doing great, Mimikyu! Now use-"

"Eetee?" Annie gasped in surprise. What was that noise she had heard just now? She looked around and saw nothing near her. No Pokemon other than her Mimikyu, and nothing but trees and the Pokemon Center in front of and behind them.

"Okay…" She said nervously. "Uh, Mimikyu, use-"

"Eeeeeteeee?"

Annie jumped a little and yelled this time. Seriously, what was that noise? She looked around and saw nothing around her, but she did notice that her Mimikyu was getting a bit agitated by whatever it was that was making the noise. Suddenly, Annie felt something tap her on the shoulder. "Eetee?" She started sweating a little. Something was behind her. She turned around slowly to discover that it was…

Nothing. There was nothing behind her. What the heck had tapped her shoulder then? She felt another tap followed by some giggling. "Eetee!" Came a gleeful voice from behind her. Annie turned around again, this time much quicker, but there was still nothing behind her.

"All right, whatever you are, show yourself!" Annie said, trying not to sound nearly as scared as she was. Suddenly, a strange looking Pokemon materialized in front of her, as if it had been invisible and was just now coming out of hiding.

The Pokemon was small and light grey, and it looked like it didn't even have a body. It was just a floating, bulbous head with two large, yellow eyes and two long, thin arms with long, then fingers. It actually looked a lot like pictures Annie had seen in books of a certain supposed type of alien. She believed they were called Greys. "Eetee!" The Pokemon said gleefully.

Annie screamed and jumped back. This had to be it. This was the Ultra Beast. "S-stay back!" She said desperately. "D-don't hurt me!"

The little Pokemon floated up to her. It got really close to her face. And then… It booped her gently on the nose. "Eetee!" The Ultra Beast said sweetly. Annie stopped cowering. The Ultra Beast wasn't attacking her like most other Pokemon did. And, if it didn't want to attack her, did that mean she could actually catch it?

"Do… Do you want me to capture you?" She asked it.

"Eetee!" The Pokemon said happily, clapping its hands.

"O-okay then." Annie said. She pulled out the Beast Ball Ace had given her. "Go on." She said kindly. "Get in."

The Ultra Beast crossed its arms and shook its head. "Eetee." It said. It then pointed over at Annie's Mimikyu, which had been watching the little Pokemon carefully this whole time in case it attacked its trainer. "Eeeeteeee." The Ultra Beast said.

"You… You want me to battle you first?" Annie asked.

"Eetee! Eetee!" The Pokemon said, clapping its hands again.

Annie stood up, a confident smile on her face. She was ready to battle this Pokemon. "All right then! Mimikyu, attack with Shadow Claw!" Mimikyu lunged forward to slash at the Ultra Beast, but it levitated out of the way and went invisible again. Mimikyu looked around for it, only for it to become visible again and blast Mimikyu in the back with Psywave. Fortunately, Mimikyu's Disguise ability kept it from taking damage. "Mimikyu! There it is! Use Payback!"

Mimikyu turned around and fired several dark beams of energy at the Ultra Beast. Unfortunately, the Beast turned invisible again and Mimikyu's attack missed. "How does it keep doing that?" Annie wondered aloud. She checked her Pokedex apparently the Ultra Beast was using a move called Cloaking, which boosted its evasiveness drastically. Annie then got an idea. "Mimikyu, use Mimic!"

Since Mimic allowed Mimikyu to copy its opponent's last move, it could now use Cloaking against the Ultra Beast. Once the Beast became visible again, Annie shouted, "Now, Mimikyu! Use Cloaking!" Mimikyu disappeared. The Ultra Beast looked just as confused as Annie had been just a few moments ago. How could an ordinary Pokemon copy its signature move? Annie waited while the Ultra Beast searched around the area for Mimikyu, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"Use Shadow Claw now!" Mimikyu materialized right next to the Ultra Beast and slashed at it with its long, black claw, striking a critical, and apparently super effective, blow. The Ultra Beast went down hard. It was clearly low on HP. Annie pulled out her Beast Ball. "Beast Ball, go!" Annie yelled as she threw the ball at the Ultra Beast. It sucked up the Beast, wiggled once, twice, three times… Ding! The Ultra Beast was caught! Annie jumped up and down with glee and ran over to pick up her new Pokemon. "I can't believe I did it! I captured the Ultra Beast!"

"You captured the what now?" Annie turned back towards the woods to see that Chris was coming out of them, followed closely behind by Cammie and a girl Annie didn't recognize.

"I caught the Ultra Beast!" Annie said excitedly. She threw the Beast Ball she had used up in the air, and the Beast came out.

"Eetee!" The Beast said happily.

"Aww. It's so cute!" Cammie said.

"Wow! How'd you manage to capture it?" Chris asked.

"It just appeared right in front of me, so I battled it." Annie replied. "Pretty lucky, huh?"

"I'll say!" Chris said. "Congrats, Annie!"

"Well, it clearly wasn't in those woods." Chris, Cammie, Annie, and Jackie all turned around to see the two International Police agents coming out of the woods.

"Don't worry, Anabel." The one in the trenchcoat said. "We'll find it and capture it for sure."

"Eetee, quick! Hide!" Annie whispered to her new Pokemon. The Ultra Beast used Cloaking and disappeared. The International Police agents walked over to the four trainers.

"Excuse us, but did any of you children happen to find that Ultra Beast?" The woman, apparently named Anabel, asked.

"Nope."

"Nuh-uh."

"Sorry."

"Can't say we have."

Anabel frowned. "Well, if you do find it, please contact the International Police hotline." She said. "Ultra Beasts are extremely dangerous, so we need to make sure we can catch it before it does any harm." And, with that, the two International Police agents walked away.

The Ultra Beast came out of hiding. "Eetee." It said, sounding a little scared of the two International Police agents.

"Don't worry, Eetee." Annie said, patting it gently on the head. "I promise you won't be getting captured by those two. I'll keep you safe."

"Eetee!" The Ultra Beast said happily.

"Annie, why do you keep calling that thing 'Eetee?'" Chris asked.

"Well, that's all it's been saying, so I figured that must be its name." Annie replied. "Right, Eetee?"

"Eetee! Eetee!" Eetee said happily.

Annie giggled. "By the way, where's Ace? Have any of you guys seen him?"

"Not at all." Chris replied. "I wonder where he could be."

Meanwhile, back in the southern part of the woods next to the destroyed Monambarch and Soldioney hive, Ace and his two Pokemon still stood, stuck to the ground by amber and covered in sores caused by getting stung several times by the Soldioneys. "Hello?" Ace called out desperately to anyone who might hear him. "I could use a little help over here! Hello?"

Will Ace ever get out of the woods? And just how dangerous really is Annie's new Ultra Beast Pokemon? All these answers and more as the journey continues.


	6. Chapter 6

_**The Flames of Rivalry**_

"And that's how I managed to beat the Kanto Elite Four."

Chris, Cammie, and Annie were all completely spellbound as they listened to this girl. Cammie had just met Jackie the other day in the woods, but already they all could tell she would make a great friend. "You seriously beat all four of them?" Chris asked in awe. "Even Lance?"

"Well, Lance was definitely the toughest to beat, but yeah. I still got past him." Jackie replied.

"So, does that mean you're the Champion of Kanto?" Annie asked.

"Well, not exactly." Jackie said. "I actually couldn't beat the current Campion at the time. Didn't even get past his first Pokemon."

"Wow! I'd heard that the Kanto Champ was strong, but I had no idea he was _that_ strong!" Cammie said. "So, where did you go after Kanto?"

Before Jackie could tell them, the doors to the Pokemon Center opened and Ace slowly shuffled in, covered in sores created the other day by a group of Soldioneys. "Oh, my Arceus! Ace! What happened to you?" Cammie asked.

"Ran into some bee Pokemon…" Ace said. "Got stuck in amber… Stung a lot too… I need some rest."

"Ace?" Ace looked over when he heard that familiar voice and broke out into a huge grin when he saw Jackie. "Is that really you?" Jackie asked.

"Jackie!" Ace went over and hugged her, suddenly free from his previous exhausted state. "It's so great to see you again!" He said happily.

"You two know each other?" Cammie asked.

"Yeah. Jackie and I are old rivals." Ace explained. "We met back in Kanto about five years ago. She's the one who actually beat me in the Indigo Conference."

While Nurse Joy healed Ace's Pokemon, Ace and Jackie recounted several tales from their rivalry. "And then there was the time we both heard that Moltres was in town and raced to be the first to catch it!" Ace said. "Man, Jackie got burned so bad by that Heat Wave attack!"

"Hey, I didn't get hurt nearly as bad as you after that run in with the really hungry Snorlax." Jackie retorted. "He tried to eat Ace's head."

The two of them both gasped excitedly and said simultaneously, "Or what about that time with the Scyther swarm?" Ace and Jackie both fell over laughing.

"Wow. Sounds like a lot of you guys' stories involve the two of you getting hurt." Annie observed.

"Well, we were only beginners back then." Ace said as he caught his breath from laughing so hard. "Stuff like that doesn't happen that often anymore."

"Speak for yourself, Bee Sting Boy." Jackie joked.

"Oh, yeah? What was that, Fire Butt?" Ace shot right back. The two of them started laughing again. "So," Ace said as he caught his breath again, "what are you doing in Insmou?"

"Challenging the League! What else?" Jackie replied. "I was actually on my way to Bluemount City to challenge the Gym there."

"Hey, that's where we're heading too!" Ace said excitedly. "You should come with us!"

"Really?" Jackie asked. "You sure it would be okay?"

"Sure! It'll be just like old times!" Ace said. "You guys don't mind, right?" He asked Chris, Cammie, and Annie.

"Not at all." Annie said politely.

"Fine by me." Chris replied.

"I think it's a great idea!" Cammie said.

"Awesome!" Ace said, jumping up out of his seat. "Once my Pokemon are all done with Nurse Joy, we can head out."

After about ten minutes of waiting and more of Ace and Jackie recounting tales from Kanto, Nurse Joy came out with Ace's Eevee and Weasea. "We've restored your Pokemon to full health." She said. "We hope to see you again!"

"Vee!" Eevee leapt up on to Ace's shoulder. Ace gave his head a nice, friendly rub.

"Hey, buddy! Looks like you're all better." He picked up Weasea. "You too, Weasea!"

"Weaseeeaaa!" Weasea squealed happily.

"Oh, my Arceus! Eevee, it's so great to see you again!" Jackie exclaimed. Eevee noticed Jackie and grinned widely.

"Vee!" Eevee leapt from Ace's shoulder and into Jackie's arms. Jackie giggled.

"I can't believe you still haven't evolved him!" Jackie said.

"What can I say?" Ace replied. "I like him the way he is. So, shall we?"

The five trainers all left the Pokemon Center and started down the path towards Bluemount City. Ace and Jackie walked ahead of everyone else, chatting and laughing, reminiscing about old times. Cammie watched the two of them with great interest. As someone who has fallen in love more times than anyone could count, Cammie could tell there was something up with Ace when it came to Jackie. She grinned and soon a plan began to form in her head.

After about two hours of walking, a great roar was heard ripping through the woodlands the group was walking through. "What the heck was that?!" Jackie exclaimed.

"A rare Pokemon?" Ace suggested excitedly.

"A monster?" Annie said worriedly.

"Uh, actually, it's my stomach." Chris said embarrassedly. His stomach growled again, sounding like a Tyranitar on a rampage. "What? I'm a big man! Big men gotta eat!" He said defensively.

"Well, maybe we should take a break from walking then." Cammie suggested. "Ace, why don't you and I go look for some berries to make lunch with?"

"Um, actually, Cammie," Ace said, "I brought along some food in my-"

Cammie interrupted Ace by grabbing his arm and hauling him into the nearby woods. "Berry picking! Now!" Cammie said forcefully.

Once they were deep enough in the woods, Ace shook himself loose from Cammie's grip. "What the heck, man?" Ace asked. "What was all that about?"

"You liiiike someone." Cammie said in a sing-songy voice.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You and Jackie!" Cammie said happily. "You totally like each other!"

"Wha-? No I don't!" Ace exclaimed, although his face did turn bright red.

"Oh, please, Ace." Cammie said. "I know love when I see it. You and Jackie have been flirting back and forth all day long."

"We were just talking about old times!" Ace said defensively. "Doesn't mean I like her!" Ace started storming away.

"Well, I can totally tell she likes you too." Cammie said. She grinned as Ace stopped in his tracks.

"Really? You really think so?" He said excitedly.

"A-ha! Busted!" Cammie said victoriously.

Ace sighed. "Fine!" He admitted. "I might like Jackie just a little bit. I just… I don't know what to do to see if she likes me."

"You just need something that ignites the spark of romance." Cammie said. "And, from what I've seen about you two, there's one way to do that that's guaranteed to work!"

"What is it?"

Cammie grinned. "You two just need to battle again." She said. "Re-living your old rivalry with her is the perfect way to start a romance between you two."

Ace considered this for a moment. "All right. I guess that could work. Let's head back then."

Cammie grabbed Ace's arm before he could leave. "Hey, I said we were picking berries together! If we go back without any, it'll look suspicious. Now, come on. Start looking."

Ace groaned at the thought of manual labor, but he still followed Cammie to pick some berries. About 20 minutes later, they returned to the rest of the group with their arms full of delicious fruit. "All right! Who's hungry?" Cammie asked.

"Oh. We actually just ate the snacks Ace brought." Chris said guiltily, pointing over to Ace's ransacked backpack. Ace gave Cammie an annoyed look for making him work for 20 minutes picking now-useless berries, then dropped his armload and approached Jackie.

"Hey, Jackie." Ace said nervously. "I was thinking… You wanna have a quick battle? You know, for old times sake?"

Jackie grinned. "I thought you'd never ask." She said. "Machamp, go!" Jackie tossed her Pokeball up in the air and out came her prized Machamp.

"Eevee, you're up!" Ace said, tossing out his own Pokeball and sending out his Eevee.

"Vee!" Eevee said, excited about the chance to battle Machamp again.

"Ma Machamp!" Machamp said, equally fired up about battling Eevee.

Annie and Chris both turned to watch the battle, but Cammie was watching with extra intrigue, hoping that this battle would create the spark needed to set these two lovebirds up with each other.

"Eevee, use Shadow Ball!" Ace commanded. Eevee charged up a Shadow Ball attack and shot it towards Machamp.

"Machamp, counter with Focus Blast!" Machamp sent forth a ball of orange energy. The two energy balls collided, creating an explosion that kicked up dust everywhere.

"Eevee, quick! Attack with Take Down!" Eevee rushed forward to tackle Machamp, but Jackie was ready for him.

"Machamp, use Dual Chop!" Machamp's hands glowed green, and it attacked Eevee once, sending it flying backwards, then it ran forward and attacked again, slamming Eevee into the ground for a critical hit.

Even though Ace was losing, he was still filled with excitement. He had missed battling with Jackie. She always gave him a challenge and never held anything back. Likewise, Jackie had missed battling with Ace. It had been so long since she had seen him, and it appeared he had really grown as a trainer.

"This is fun, right?" Jackie said. "Just like old times!"

"Yeah! Definitely!" Ace agreed.

"I've really missed you, Ace." Jackie said. "You were always such a great friend."

It was right then that Ace knew what he had to do. "Eevee, use Double Team!" Eevee summoned up several copies of itself that all spread out around the battlefield. "Now hit Machamp with Take Down!"

All of the Eevees surged forward. "Machamp, attack with Dual Chop again!" Jackie commanded. Machamp chopped away at all of the Eevee copies that came at him, but still felt blow after blow as the real Eevee repeatedly slammed into him, causing a lot of damage.

Eventually, as Machamp fell to its knees after sustaining so many hits, there was only one Eevee left. Eevee was panting hard after running around hitting Machamp so much. Both Pokemon looked ready to faint. The next move would decide the battle.

"Eevee, finish him off with-" But before Ace could finish, Eevee fell to the ground, unable to battle any more. "Eevee!" Ace ran forward and picked up his fallen Pokemon. Chris quickly handed him a Revive from his bag and Ace fed it to Eevee.

"Ee… Vee?" Eevee murmured as it woke back up. Ace smiled down at his partner.

"It's okay, Eevee. You just get some rest." He said, returning Eevee to its ball.

Jackie walked over to Ace. "That was a great battle." She said. "Kind of reminded me of our last battle back in the Indigo Conference."

Ace smiled. "Yeah. It kinda reminded me too." He paused for a moment. "Listen, Jackie…" Cammie started getting excited. This was it! Ace was going to ask out his crush! "You're a really great friend." Ace finished.

Cammie practically lost it. _What was he doing?_ But Jackie smiled. "Thanks, Ace." She said. "So are you."

Chris and Annie both got up. "We should probably keep moving if we wanna make it to Bluemount City before it gets dark." Chris suggested.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Ace said. The group of trainers all continued walking down the path to Bluemount City. As they walked, Cammie pulled Ace aside.

"What the heck was that?" She asked incredulously. "'You're a great friend?!' Why didn't you ask her out?"

"It just didn't seem like the right thing to do." Ace replied. "Jackie and I need to stay just friends for right now." Cammie groaned. "Hey, don't worry." Ace said. "I'll get around to asking her out sometime later. You know, when both of us are ready for it."

Cammie sighed. "I guess that's fair." She said.

Ace hurried so he could catch up to Jackie. "Hey, you'd better watch your back when you get to the championships," Ace said,"because I'm gonna be gunning straight for you."

Jackie smiled. "Wouldn't have it any other way." She said.

Two friends reunited, and an exciting battle had with many more to come. What awaits our heroes in Bluemount City? We'll find out as the journey continues.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Pokemon 911**_

"Tell me again why we're doing this."

"Look, it's simple. With a job like this and disguises like these, we'll be able to steal plenty of Pokemon in no time."

"Yes, I understand the job part, but why did you have to give me an afro?"

It had been about two days since Charles and Lucy had blasted off from the woods near Brooksville Town, and at this point Lucy hated being stuck with Charles more than she ever had before. After getting blasted off, the Team Rocket duo had crashlanded in Bluemount City, where Charles had came up with the idea for the two of them to volunteer as Pokemon EMTs at the hospital that the city was famous for. He had said it would be the perfect opportunity to get around town fast and also that they would be able to steal/catch Pokemon that were already significantly weakened. However, what he had failed to mention was that they needed to wear disguises to blend in. Hence the afro wig that was itching the crap out of Lucy's scalp.

"Hey, don't sweat it, Lucy. It's not that bad." Charles said. He wasn't wearing a wig, but he did have on a false mustache.

"Not that bad?" Lucy growled. "Then why don't you wear the stupid wig?"

"Because I want the ladies to dig my already awesome hair." Lucy rolled her eyes. The only person who would possibly enjoy Charles' greased-up hair would be a mechanic, and only because they would never have to buy grease again with the infinite supply contained in it.

"Hey, come on, you two. Focus!" Their boss said from the front of the ambulance. They had just gotten a dispatch call from just outside Bluemount City. Apparently, a trainer's Grimer had come in contact with a wild Salazzle and had been badly poisoned thanks to Salazzle's Corrosion ability. "We need you both to be ready to start helping when we get there!"

"Yes, boss!" Charles and Lucy said simultaneously.

Meanwhile, as the ambulance sped towards the outskirts of Bluemount City, five trainers were already almost there. "I can't wait to challenge the Gym Leader they have here!" Ace said. "What type of Pokemon do you think they'll use?"

"Probably Rock types." Chris answered. "That's pretty much the most common Gym type in the world."

"I bet it'll be Grass, Fire, or Water." Cammie replied. "The Gym Leader will want to start you off with something easy to beat with whatever starter you've chosen."

"What about you, Annie?" Jackie asked. "What do you think it'll be?"

Annie thought for a moment. "Hmm… I think it will be-" She stopped talking as she felt one of her Pokeballs start wobbling. She looked down and saw it was her Beast Ball. "Oh! I guess Eetee wants to come out." She said, taking the ball from her belt. "I haven't let him out since I caught him."

"I don't think you should let that thing out." Ace said. "I mean, it's an Ultra Beast, isn't it? What if it goes wild and attacks somebody? Or worse: what if the International Police catch you with it? They're still looking for it, remember?"

Annie sighed. "Yeah. I guess you're-" But before she could finish, the ball popped open on its own, and Eetee came out.

"Eetee!" It squealed, happy to be free from its ball.

Annie couldn't help but giggle. "Okay. I guess you can stay out of your ball for a little bit. Just don't go wandering too far."

"Eetee." Eetee said, appearing to understand. And it obeyed Annie's orders for a little while, but then something caught its attention. "Eetee?" It said.

"Eetee? What's wrong?" Annie asked.

"Eetee!" Eetee quickly floated down the path. Annie and the others all ran off after it, but they couldn't keep up.

"Where's it going?" Annie asked worriedly.

"Probably to go cause some trouble." Ace said. "Eevee, come out and use Shadow Ball to slow it down!"

Ace threw his Pokeball, calling out Eevee. "Eeeeevee!" Eevee said as it charged up a Shadow Ball and launched it towards Eetee. Eetee went behind a hill, preventing the trainers from seeing what happened, but they did hear a loud boom, indicating that the attack had been a direct hit. The only problem was that it didn't hit Eetee.

"Grimer! No!" Ace, Annie, Chris, Cammie, and Jackie all rushed around the hill to find a little boy with a Grimer that had been badly hurt by Eevee's attack.

"Oh, my Arceus! I'm so sorry!" Ace said. "See, there was this other Pokemon that came around here and- Hey, where did Eetee go?" The trainers all looked around, but Eetee had disappeared, probably using its Cloaking move to be invisible.

"Please, do any of you have any Antidotes?" The little boy asked desperately. "My Grimer got poisoned! It needs help, and I can't make it to the Pokemon Center in time!"

The trainers all checked their bags, but none of them had any Antidotes. "Sorry, buddy." Ace said guiltily. "But we can help you get it to the nearest Pokemon Center."

"No! There's no time!" The boy sobbed. "Please! Can't anybody help my Grimer?"

"Gri… Mer…" Grimer said weakly, fading fast.

Then, suddenly, Eetee became visible again right next to Grimer. "Eetee!" It said.

The little boy jumped. "Aah! What are you?! Stay away!" But Eetee didn't listen. It floated right up to the Grimer, its finger started glowing yellow, and then it gently touched the Grimer.

"Eeeeetee." Eetee said gently. All of a sudden, the Grimer's poisoned status vanished. It was okay!

"Grime! Grimer!" Grimer said in gratitude.

"Wow! Thank you so much!" The boy said to Eetee.

"Whoa… How did it do that?" Ace asked. Annie pulled out her Pokedex to check what move Eetee had just used.

"It says here that Eetee used a move called Magic Touch." She explained. "It's a Fairy type move can heal any Pokemon of a status condition instantly."

Ace was impressed. Maybe he was wrong about how dangerous this little Ultra Beast was. If it was willing to just heal a Pokemon it had never met out of the blue, maybe it wasn't a threat after all.

 _No. It's still a threat._

Okay, where were all these thoughts coming from? Before Ace could question this any further, an ambulance pulled up. Three people hopped out of it, and none of the trainers had ever seen them before. Or at least they thought they hadn't. One of them was a man with short, brown hair and glasses wearing a blue EMT uniform. The other two were also wearing EMT uniforms, but one of them had long, greasy hair and a mustache while the other had a gigantic afro. "Clear the area!" The man with glasses said. "Pokemon EMTs!" He turned to the kid. "Don't worry, buddy. We're here to help."

"There's no need." The boy said. "These nice people's Pokemon already healed my Grimer."

"Really?" The man with the glasses looked up and saw Eetee floating there. "Wow! Never seen a Pokemon like that before." He said. "But thank you, kids, for helping this boy out!"

"Oh, it was nothing." Annie said, flattered. "We were just passing through when Eetee came over here on its own."

"Well, you were a real big help anyways!" The man said.

Meanwhile, Lucy and Charles were trying to hide their faces so they wouldn't be identified by the trainers. "What are they doing here?!" Lucy whispered. "And what kind of Pokemon is that with them?"

Charles sneaked a look over at Eetee. "It could be that Ultra Beast we heard about two days ago." He whispered back. "Maybe they captured it after all." He suddenly broke out into a huge grin. "Which means we can definitely steal it!"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Lucy whispered back. "We can't steal it now with this many people around!"

"Of course not." Charles replied. "But don't worry. I have a plan." Before Lucy could protest, Charles turned back around to face the trainers and their boss. "Hey, Norton, why don't we let these kids and their Pokemon help us out for the day?" He suggested. "With a Pokemon that has healing powers like that, we could help a whole lot of people!"

Their boss, apparently called Norton, smiled. "Great idea!" He turned back to the trainers. "How would you five like to help us out as assistant Pokemon EMTs?"

"I'm in!" Ace responded.

"Me too!" Annie replied.

"Sounds like fun!" Chris said.

Cammie, meanwhile, ran up to Norton and took his hand in hers. "I would follow you to the ends of the Earth!" She declared, clearly in love again. "Just think: you and I together forev- Huh?" Cammie noticed she was getting pulled away from Norton. Her Mime Jr, Mimey, had come out of his Pokeball all on his own to pull Cammie away from her newest love interest.

"I'll, uh, take that as a yes." Norton said. He turned to Jackie. "And what about you?"

Jackie smiled, but shook her head. "Sorry." She said. "I would love to, but I was planning on challenging the Gym Leader in town today." She turned back to the others. "I'll catch up with you guys after I'm done there. Good luck!" And with that, Jackie ran off towards Bluemount City and its Pokemon Gym.

"She's going to be surprised." Norton said. "The Gym Leader isn't even there today."

"How do you know that?" Annie asked.

Before Norton could respond, he got a call on his radio. "Uh-oh! Looks like we got another Salazzle attack! It just poisoned a trainer's Mawile downtown. Everybody! Move, move, move!" Ace, Annie, Chris, Cammie, Lucy, and Charles all got in the back of the ambulance, and Norton drove them all away heading for the location of the trainer and their Mawile. While sitting in the back with the four trainers, Charles and Lucy tried even harder to hide their faces from them for fear of being recognized. "So, what's it like working as Pokemon EMTs?" Ace asked them.

"Oh, you know, it's all… Very rewarding." Charles lied.

"But we've only been on the job for two days now." Lucy finished.

"It must be really exciting getting to help injured Pokemon!" Cammie said. "And the company's not too bad either." She waved flirtily to Norton in the front seat, but Norton didn't notice.

"It is pretty exciting," Charles said, "except we haven't had a chance to catch any of those Pokemon."

Lucy groaned internally. Her partner was so stupid. Off the funny looks the four trainers were giving them, Lucy said, "But of course he doesn't mean catching other trainers' Pokemon. It's just sometimes we get called about a wild Pokemon that someone saw was injured, but we haven't been able to catch them because our first priority is helping people." Lucy elbowed Charles. "Right, _partner_?" She asked, putting extra malice into the word partner.

"Ow! Yeah, that's what I meant." Charles said. That answer seemed to satisfy the four trainers, as they didn't question them any further. Finally, the ambulance stopped.

"Move it, people! We've got Pokemon to save!" Norton called from the front seat. The six of them all got out of the back seat of the ambulance and ran over to where a little girl was crying over her poisoned Mawile.

"Please help her!" She sobbed.

"Don't worry, little lady." Norton said. "We're here to help. Annie, can you get your Pokemon to do what it did to that Grimer again?"

"Sure!" Annie called out Eetee again. "Eetee, use Magic Touch on that girl's Mawile!" She commanded.

Eetee floated down and got close to the poisoned Pokemon. "Eeeeetee." It said kindly as its finger glowed. It gently touched Mawile, curing it instantly of its status condition.

"Wow! That Pokemon of yours sure is amazing!" Norton said as the little girl and her Mawile went on their way.

However, hidden in an alley nearby, a wild Pokemon was glaring at the Ultra Beast that kept ruining its acts of malice. It wanted revenge! It wanted that Pokemon to be destroyed!

"Saaaalazzle!" Everyone jumped as a Salazzle jumped out of the alley, shooting a Toxic attack at Eetee and hitting it directly, poisoning it badly.

"Eeeeteee." Eetee groaned as it floated down to the ground, now too sick to move.

"Eetee! No!" Annie suddenly got angry. "Mimikyu, go! Attack that Salazzle!" Annie sent out her other Pokemon, Mimikyu, which tried attacking the Salazzle with Shadow Claw. Unfortunately, the Poison Pokemon was too quick and leapt out of the way.

"Salazzle!" It growled, firing a Flame Burst attack at Mimikyu. It was a direct hut, but Mimikyu's disguise ability kept it from taking damage.

"You know, if we play our cards right, we may be able to make off with the Ultra Beast and that Salazzle." Charles whispered to Lucy.

"Fine. But we play it safe. Got it?"

Charles nodded. "Magneton, come out and help!" He said, throwing his Pokeball out. Magneton appeared from it, ready for battle. "Use Thundershock on that Salazzle!"

"Maaaaagneeetooooon!" Magneton charged up a bolt of electrical energy, then shot it at the Salazzle, hitting it but doing no real damage.

"Salazzle!" The Salazzle roared. It fired another Flame Burst attack, hitting Magneton. Then, because of Flame Burst's other effect, the resulting explosion hit Mimikyu with some fire as well.

"It's too powerful!" Annie said. "We can't beat it!"

"Oh, yes we can!" Norton said, stepping forward. "Stand behind me and keep your Pokemon safe. I'll handle this." Norton pulled out a Pokeball and threw it out. "Venomilk, go!"

From the Pokeball, appeared a gigantic snake Pokemon with red, black, and yellow stripes. "Venomilk!" It hissed.

"Whoa! Cool! Fighting Poison with Poison, huh?" Ace asked.

"Actually, Venomilk is a Normal type." Norton explained.

"Really?" Ace checked his Pokedex and pulled up Venomilk's entry.

"Venomilk," the Pokedex said, "the False Poison Pokemon. This Pokemon's immune system is so advanced, it is never affected by status conditions. Also, it's said that the venom Venomilk secretes from its fangs can heal other Pokemon instead of poison them."

"Venomilk, use Body Slam!" Norton commanded.

"Venomiiiilk!" Venomilk lunged, slamming into the Salazzle and causing quite a bit of damage.

"Salazzle!" The Salazzle fired another Toxic attack at Venomilk, but the snake Pokemon was completely unaffected. "Salazzle?!"

"How is it not poisoned right now?" Chris asked, perplexed.

Ace looked on his Pokedex. "Says here it's Venomilk's ability." He explained. "Something called Immune Booster. Makes it so that it can't be affected by status conditions."

"Now, Venomilk, use Bide!" Venomilk sat still, glowing red. The Salazzle decided to seize the opportunity and struck it with two Flame Burst attacks. However, it appeared that these attacks did very little damage. "Now attack!" Venomilk released its stored-up energy, firing a white beam of light at the Salazzle, and the Poison Pokemon was sent flying, taking a ton of damage. The Salazzle, deciding it had been beaten, took off running. The battle had been won. "Great job, Venomilk!" Norton said, patting his Pokemon on the head.

"Venomilk." The snake Pokemon said proudly. "Venomilk?" Venomilk was looking behind Norton. He turned around and saw that Charles and Lucy were making off with Annie's still-poisoned Eetee.

"We got it! We got the Ultra Beast!" Charles cheered loudly.

"Shut up! Don't let them hear you!" Lucy chastised her partner.

"Hey!" The Team Rocket duo stopped in their tracks and slowly turned around. "Give that Pokemon back." Norton said.

Charles chuckled. "Or what? You'll give us a booster shot?" He taunted.

"Oh, boy. Now you've done it." Lucy muttered.

"Venomilk, use Return!" Venomilk rushed Team Rocket, glowing with a bright pink aura. The duo screamed as Venomilk rammed into them, sending them soaring into the air.

"Oh well." Charles said as they flew through the air. "You win some, you lose some. Once we land, let's get back to the drawing board, partner!"

Lucy sighed. "I can't believe I wore an afro for nothing."

" _We're blasting off again!_ "

Team Rocket disappeared into the sky. Annie ran forward to her still-poisoned Pokemon that was left on the ground. "We need to help him quick!" Annie said urgently. "I don't know how much longer he can hold on!"

Norton stepped forward. "Out of the way. Give me some room." He said. Everyone backed up, and Norton and Venomilk got down close to Eetee. "Venomilk, your fangs." Norton said.

"Venomilk." Venomilk nodded and gently nipped Eetee with its two fangs, injecting it with poison. But, while most poisons harmed Pokemon, this one did not. Just like the Pokedex entry said, Venomilk's venom started to quickly heal Eetee.

"Eetee?" Eetee said. It floated up and did a little flip in the air. "Eetee!" It said happily, now cured of the poison.

"Wow! Thank you so much, Norton!" Annie said.

"Hey, it's what Pokemon EMTs do." Norton said. "It's getting pretty late. Is there any place I can drop you kids off?"

"The Pokemon Gym would be nice." Ace replied. "Jackie's probably already beaten the Gym Leader there."

Norton chuckled. "Oh, I doubt that." He said cryptically. Ace, Annie, Chris, and Cammie all jumped back in the ambulance, and Norton drove them all to Bluemount City's Pokemon Gym. Jackie was sitting on the front steps, looking extremely bored.

"Hey, Jackie!" Ace said as he got out of the ambulance. "Did you beat the Gym Leader?"

Jackie chuckled dryly. "Beat him? He didn't even show up! Dude's been gone all day."

"My apologies for that." Jackie looked up as Norton stepped forward. "I'm sorry I wasn't around," He said, "but, if you're willing, I'd be happy to accept your challenge right now."

"Wait a second!" Ace exclaimed. " _You're_ the Gym Leader?"

Norton grinned. "Sorry for not telling you kids earlier." He said. He then turned to Jackie. "So, shall we begin your challenge?"

Jackie versus Norton, the Gym Leader of Bluemount City. Who will come out on top? We'll discover that as the journey continues.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Not A Normal Battle**_

"Venomilk, use Bide!"

"Don't give it a chance to attack, Machamp! Use Dynamic Punch!"

Jackie was in the middle of her battle with Norton, the Gym Leader of Bluemount City, and, boy, for the first Gym Leader for her to face, he was a tough one. The rules of Norton's Gym made it so that he only used his Venomilk against as many Pokemon as Jackie had. She had two: her Shellith and her Machamp. Her Shellith, despite being relatively high-level when she had caught it, had lost disastrously to Venomilk. Her Machamp was doing a lot better, but it was still anybody's game. Ace could tell that if Jackie didn't take Venomilk out now before it used Bide, the battle would be over for her.

Machamp socked Venomilk right in the face, landing a critical and super effective hit against the Normal type Pokemon, but it was still standing. Ace couldn't tell, but he thought it looked like Venomilk was smiling, as if it knew Machamp would soon be defeated. Jackie had one more attack left before Bide kicked in, though.

"Machamp, use Focus Blast!" Machamp charged up a ball of orange energy and shot it at Venomilk. Given how close it was to the snake Pokemon, the blast had a lot of power and sent Venomilk flying backwards until it crashed into the back wall of the Gym. When the dust cleared, Venomilk had been defeated.

"Venomilk is unable to battle!" The referee declared. "Machamp is the winner, which means victory goes to the challenger, Jackie!"

Norton returned his fallen Pokemon to its ball. Despite losing, he had a smile on his face. "Impressive." He said. "You knew that, from that close up, Focus Blast would be much more effective."

Jackie grinned sheepishly. "To be honest, I wasn't sure it was going to work." She admitted. "Your Venomilk's a really tough Pokemon."

The referee came over to where Norton and Jackie were standing. He carried a plain white plate that had a badge on it: one in the shape of a red first aid cross. "This is your proof of victory today at the Bluemount Gym: the Health Badge. You've earned it." Norton handed the badge to Jackie, who took it with pride.

Ace grinned. It was good seeing Jackie beat Norton on her first try. And now it was his turn. "Norton!" Ace said, jumping down from the stands and running up to the battlefield. "I want to battle next!"

"Oh, I don't know about that." The referee said. "It's getting late, and the Gym needs to close down for tonight."

"It's all right, Clyde." Norton said. "This young man helped me out today on the job. He deserves a chance to challenge me tonight." Clyde the referee nodded. "Just give me a second to heal my Pokemon and we'll get started." Norton proceeded to the back room of the Gym to heal his Venomilk. While he was gone, the trainers all congratulated Jackie, but Jackie had something to say to Ace.

"He's a tough trainer, Ace." She said. "I only won because my Machamp's moves had the type advantage. None of your Pokemon know any Fighting type moves. You sure you can win?"

Ace shrugged with a carefree smile. "I don't think I'll need a type advantage." He said. "Eevee and I have got this one in the bag. And we've also got Weasea to help too."

"Yeah, but Weasea doesn't have any battle experience." Jackie said. "I'm sorry, Ace. I just don't see this battle going your way."

Ace's smile faltered for a moment. Chris put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Ace." He said. "You've got this."

"Yeah! Go get 'em!" Cammie added.

"You can win this thing!" Annie said.

Ace's smile returned. "Thanks, guys." He said. "I'm ready."

Norton returned a few moments later. Both he and Ace took their positions on the battlefield. Clyde, the referee, took his place at the center line. "The battle between the Gym Leader, Norton, and Ace the challenger will now begin! The challenger is allowed to use as many Pokemon as he possesses, while the Gym Leader must only use his one Pokemon. Battle begin!"

"Venomilk, come out now!"

"Weasea, I choose you!"

Both competitors threw out their Pokemon. Weasea hissed as Venomilk, who just looked down on the little weasel Pokemon condescendingly. "You get the first move, Ace." Norton said. "Use it wisely."

Ace grinned. "Weasea, use Water Gun!"

"Venomilk, dodge it and use Return!" Weasea shot a blast of water at Venomilk, but the ultra-tough snake Pokemon ducked under it and rushed towards Weasea, glowing bright pink. It slammed into the little weasel Pokemon, sending it flying across the battlefield. When the dust settled, Weasea was down after only one hit.

"Whoa…" Ace breathed. He had just seen Norton battle Jackie, but Norton hadn't knocked any of her Pokemon out in just one hit. If Norton could beat Ace's first Pokemon that easily, did he really have any chance at all?

"Weasea is unable to battle!" Clyde declared. "Venomilk is the winner!"

"Wow… That was rough." Chris said as Ace returned his Weasea to its ball.

Even though Ace had just lost one of his Pokemon, Annie was smiling. "Norton and his Venomilk must be really good partners." She said.

"Huh? How do you figure?" Cammie asked.

"Well, that's the effect of Return." Annie explained. "The stronger the bond between the trainer and their Pokemon, the stronger Return is. Prof. Kukui and I did a lot of research on it back in Alola. I, uh, also got hit by it a bunch myself. That part isn't so great."

Ace grimaced as he pulled out his last Pokeball. Venomilk still hadn't taken any damage, and, judging by how powerful that Return attack was, Ace was going to need to stay on his toes for the rest of this battle. If Eevee got hit by that, he knew the battle would be over.

"Eevee, I choose you!" Ace threw his ball into the battlefield, causing his Eevee to come out. "Now, Eevee, use Take Down!"

Ace expected Venomilk to dodge the attack like how it had ducked under Weasea's Water Gun, but instead it took the hit. "Venomilk, use Body Slam!" Norton commanded. Now Ace could see why Norton hadn't told Venomilk to dodge Eevee's attack. After hitting it with Take Down, Eevee was close enough to Venomilk that it wouldn't be able to dodge its next attack. Venomilk whipped its tail around, slamming it into Eevee and sending the poor Pokemon flying backwards.

"Eevee! You okay?" Ace asked.

Eevee managed to get back up, but it took some effort. "Vee!" It said. Eevee then stumbled a little, and Ace noticed little sparks of electricity coming from it.

"Uh-oh." Annie said, noticing the sparks too. "Eevee's paralyzed!"

"Paralyzed?!" Cammie exclaimed. "But how?"

"Body Slam has a one in three chance of paralyzing its target." Annie explained. "I, uh, got hit with that one a lot too."

Ace's mind raced as he tried to think of ways to counter this. Then he had an idea. "Eevee, use Take Down again!" He commanded. "Aim for Venomilk's head!"

Eevee took off running towards Venomilk, encumbered a little from the paralysis, then leapt up and slammed into Venomilk's head, landing a critical hit, but also causing Venomilk's fangs to sink into Eevee's skin a little. Venomilk tossed Eevee backwards, and, when Eevee landed, it was no longer paralyzed. "Impressive." Norton said. "Using my own Pokemon's special skill against me."

Ace grinned. "Venomilk's venom negates status conditions." He said. "I figured it could help Eevee out if I aimed it right."

Norton grinned as well. "Well, let's see you try and counter this! Venomilk, use Bide!"

"Venom!" Venomilk's body began glowing red. Ace knew that if Eevee took one hit from this powerful attack it would be done for. Fortunately, he had an idea for a workaround.

"Eevee, use Take Down!"

"Vee!" Eevee rushed forward and slammed into Venomilk.

"Now move back and use Double Team!" Eevee jumped backwards and summoned up several copies of itself. Norton smiled, once again impressed by this kid. By using Double Team, he had raised Eevee's evasiveness as well as technically used a second attack, forcing Venomilk to release its pent-up energy. Venomilk blasted a white beam of light towards one of the Eevees, only for it to disappear. It had missed. "Now, Eevee, run around Venomilk and keep using Swift!" The rest of the Eevee clones as well as the real Eevee all started running around Venomilk, blasting it with little energy stars. Venomilk was getting hit from all sides because of the running around, and couldn't tell which Eevee was the one that was actually blasting it.

"Venomilk, swipe your tail in a circle to destroy the Eevee clones!" Norton commanded. Venomilk swung its tail around in a circle. The Eevee clones all vanished, but the real Eevee jumped over the tail to avoid it. "Now use Bide again!"

Venomilk's body started glowing red again. Norton grinned. "So, are you going to try what you did before?" He asked Ace.

Ace grinned. "Hey, it worked once, didn't it? Eevee, use Take Down!" Eevee rushed towards Venomilk again and slammed into it just like the last time. "Now jump back and use-" But before Ace could finish the command, Eevee fell over, totally exhausted from the battle. "Eevee! No!"

Clyde, the referee, went forward to examine Eevee. He looked back up with a verdict. "Eevee is unable to battle!" He declared. "Venomilk is the winner, which means victory goes to the Gym Leader, Norton!"

"Eevee!" Ace rushed forward and picked up his poor, defeated Pokemon. "Gah! Why does this keep happening?" He exclaimed. This same thing had happened a lot during previous battles. Eevee would be going strong, then would faint randomly even though it hadn't taken an attack that would cause it to. It was the reason Ace had lost the Indigo Conference, it was the reason he lost his last battle with Jackie. Why did this keep happening?

"Take Down." Ace looked up. Norton, the Gym Leader, was making his way towards him and Eevee. "Take Down deals recoil damage whenever it hits." He explained. "So, the more Eevee uses it…"

"The more it gets hurt." Ace finished weakly. "Oh, my Arceus! Eevee, I'm so sorry about that!"

"Vee..." Eevee said weakly.

Norton got down and put a comforting hand on Ace's shoulder. "Don't worry." He said. "You didn't know that move was hurting Eevee. It's not your fault. I'll drive you kids back to the Pokemon Center so you can heal him." Despite Norton's comforting words, Ace still felt a stinging pain in his chest. How could he not know he was hurting his own Pokemon?

Norton dropped Ace, Annie, Chris, Cammie, and Jackie off at the Pokemon Center. Ace healed his Pokemon, and all of them each got a room for the night. All except for Jackie. "You're not sticking around?" Ace asked.

"Sorry." Jackie said. "I gotta keep travelling. I'm heading for Hollyhills City. That's where the next closest Gym is." She put a hand on Ace's shoulder, and Ace tried to hide the fact that he was blushing from it. "You'll figure out how to beat Norton, Ace. I know it." Jackie headed for the front door of the Pokemon Center, but stopped just before she exited and turned back around. "See you at the League." She said with a smile.

Ace smiled too. "Yeah. The League." He replied, nostalgic for the last time he and Jackie had faced off at the Pokemon League. And, now that he knew what had caused him to lose that battle, he knew exactly how to prevent it.

"I gotta teach Eevee a new move." He said, sitting down with his friends and their Pokemon as they all ate a late dinner in the Pokemon Center lobby. "Take Down is losing too many battles for us, plus it's hurting Eevee too."

"Vee." Eevee agreed. Ace gave his head a little rub.

"So, what move do you think you'll teach him?" Cammie asked.

"I don't know." Ace said. "It's gotta be something that can take down Norton's Venomilk, that's for sure."

"Hmm… Maybe Charm?" Cammie suggested. "It would lower Venomilk's attack a lot. That might help."

"Or you could just evolve him." Chris said. "You know, like what literally _every_ other Eevee trainer does?"

Ace looked down deep in thought. Evolution was definitely out of the question. He liked Eevee just the way he was, and he knew Eevee liked it that way too. Charm could provide a solution, but it wasn't going to stop moves like Bide and Return.

 _Return._

Ace quickly pulled out his Pokedex to look something up. "A-ha! Yes! Eevee can learn Return!" He exclaimed joyously. "I can teach Eevee Return!"

"That might actually work." Annie said. "Return's strength is determined by how strong a Pokemon and trainer's bond is, and you and Eevee have one of the strongest bonds I've seen."

"Eh. I still say you should just evolve him, but Return might work too." Chris said.

"Yeah! Give it a shot, Ace!" Cammie added.

Ace stood up, filled with an all new fiery energy. "Yeah! Tomorrow, I'm gonna start teaching Eevee Return!" He bent down and picked up his Weasea, who was eating a bowl full of Pokemon food on the floor. "And we're gonna train you too, Weasea!" Ace went on. "We're gonna level you up, maybe even teach you a new move too! How would you like that?"

"Weaseeeeeaaa!" Weasea squealed excitedly. Ace grinned. His Pokemon were just as determined to get stronger as he was.

A battle has been lost, but Ace's spirit hadn't gone with it. Will he come out on top in his next match against Norton? We'll find that out as the journey continues.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Emergency Training**_

The day after his Gym battle with Norton, Ace was up first thing in the morning. "Ready, Eevee?" He asked, already getting fired up.

"Vee!" Eevee said enthusiastically.

Ace turned to his other Pokemon, Weasea, which was still trying to sleep. "Come on, Weasea! Get up!" Ace said. "It's training time!" This statement was met with a Water Gun blast that very clearly said _Quiet down, morons! It's freaking six AM!_ "Fine. You can keep sleeping in your ball." Ace relented, returning Weasea to its Pokeball so it could continue to sleep. Ace then raced downstairs, ate a quick breakfast in the lobby of the Pokemon Center, then raced even faster off to the woods near the far side of town. "Okay, Eevee, let's get training!"

 _ **A couple hours later…**_

"Venomilk, use Body Slam!"

"Venooooomilk!" Venomilk lunged forward, slamming into its opponent, causing it to faint.

"Hitmonchan is unable to battle!" Clyde, the referee, declared. "The winner is Venomilk, which means victory goes to the Gym Leader, Norton!"

"Aw, man…" The trainer who had used Hitmonchan hung his head in the gloom of defeat. Norton walked over and kindly put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, champ." He said encouragingly. "Keep on training and come back for a rematch! I'll be waiting for you." The trainer was still sad he had lost, but left in much better spirits after Norton said that to him. Once the trainer was gone, Norton went over to pat Venomilk on the head. "Another great battle, buddy." He said.

Clyde walked over to them. "Norton, don't forget. You're on call today for the hospital. That Salazzle is still out there causing trouble for people's Pokemon."

"Actually, I gave Jude and Mayo my shifts for today." Norton replied.

"What? Why?"

Norton smiled. "Today, I need to focus on my duties as a Gym Leader." He answered. "I've got a feeling I've got a rematch coming today." Norton heard the doors open at the front of the Gym. "Get ready, Venomilk." He said to his Pokemon. "I think our challenger has arrived." A challenger had arrived all right, but it wasn't Ace. It was actually his friends. "Great to see you all again." Norton said. "But where's Ace?"

"He went to the woods on the other side of town to train." Chris explained. Norton smiled. He had hoped Ace would put in a little time training before re-challenging him.

"Yeah." Cammie added. "He's trying to teach his Eevee how to use Return. Just like how your Venomilk knows it."

Norton's smile faltered. "Oh. Did none of you let him know?" He asked them.

"Let him know what?"" Annie asked.

"Return isn't a move that can be learned naturally." Norton explained. "It can only be taught by using a Technical Machine."

The three trainers all suddenly looked embarrassed and little bummed out. Poor Ace, out there training for something he couldn't even accomplish. "Hey, don't look so down, kids." Norton said kindly. "Ace seems like a talented trainer. I'm sure he'll figure something useful out, even if it isn't Return." That seemed to brighten the others' moods up a little. "Now, are any of you here to challenge me?"

Chris grinned. "Yes. Me."

Norton looked surprised and a little intrigued. "You, Chris?" He asked.

"Yeah." Chris replied confidently. "See, I'm trying to become a Gym Leader like my dad and grandpa back in Sinnoh. And the best way to do that is to earn eight badges from eight regions. So, how would you like to have the honor of handing me my first badge?"

Norton grinned. "I like your confidence," he said, "but I hope you know I don't intend to make earning it easy for you."

Chris grinned too. "Wouldn't have it any other way." He replied.

The two trainers took their positions at each end of the battlefield. Clyde stepped up to the center line. "The battle between the Gym Leader, Norton, and Chris the challenger will now begin! The challenger is allowed to use as many Pokemon as he possesses, while the Gym Leader must only use his one Pokemon. Battle begin!"

"Venomilk, go!"

"Woodcheek, come on out!"

The battle between Chris and Norton had begun.

 _ **Elsewhere…**_

"Eevee, use Shadow Ball! And, Weasea, you use Water Gun!"

Both of Ace's Pokemon were in the middle of training hard. They were both fighting up against a horde of three Growlithes. Eevee and Weasea both let loose with their attacks, defeating all but one of the Growlithes. "Growliiiiithe!" The Pokemon roared as it ran towards Eevee, its jaws burning with flames.

"It's using Fire Fang!" Ace deduced. "Eevee, dodge it!" Eevee quickly jumped out of the way. "Now, let's try this again! Use Return!"

Eevee tried its best to get the energy it needed to use Return charged up. It ran towards the Growlithe and rammed it, accidentally using Take Down again instead. The Growlithe fainted, but Eevee and Ace still hadn't succeeded in their goal. "So, it's still coming out as Take Down, huh?" Ace said. "Don't worry! We're gonna figure this out for sure, buddy!"

"Eevee!" Eevee said confidently.

"Weasea! Weasea!" Weasea barked too.

From behind some bushes, another wild Pokemon lurked. It recognized this boy. He was one of the children who had ruined its plans the other day. Vengeance was within its grasp.

"Salazzle!" Ace wheeled around to see the Salazzle from the other day come lunging out of the bushes. He yelped a little in surprise and ducked, causing the Salazzle to miss hitting him, but it was still ready for battle.

"You again?" Ace said. "Didn't Norton teach you enough of a lesson yesterday?" The Salazzle glared at Ace. "Well, if you want a battle, you've got one! Weasea, you're up!"

Weasea sized its opponent up. The Salazzle was much too high a level for it to defeat on its own. It turned to its trainer. "Weasea?" Weasea asked nervously.

Ace smiled down at his little Water Pokemon. "Don't worry, Weasea. You can do this! I know you can!"

Ace's confidence was contagious. Seeing its trainer have that much faith in it gave Weasea a huge boost of energy. Ace looked down at Weasea curiously as it started to glow. Was it evolving? No. It was glowing blue, not white. Then what was happening?

Just then, Ace got his answer. Weasea let loose with a huge blast of water, far bigger than its Water Gun attack. The water soaked the Salazzle, doing an immense amount of damage. "Was that…" Ace checked his Pokedex for what move his Weasea had just used. He grinned at the result. "It was! All right! Weasea, keep it up!"

From behind a tree, someone was watching Ace's battle with the Salazzle. Very interesting. A young trainer with quite a lot of skill. But that Salazzle was more powerful than the boy thought it was. The man behind the tree kept watching, waiting for when he would have to intervene.

"Weasea, hit her again!" Ace commanded. Weasea charged up its new attack again, but the Salazzle was ready to fight dirty. It fired a Toxic attack, not at Weasea, but at Ace's nearby Eevee.

"Vee!" Eevee squeaked as it got hit with the deadly Poison attack.

"Eevee! No!" Ace exclaimed. Now was the time to intervene.

"Pinight, go! Use Needle Lance!"

A Pokemon that resembled a porcupine covered in green armor with twin needle lances on both of its arms jumped out. It stabbed one lance out at the Salazzle, catching it in the stomach for a critical hit, then it struck again with the other lance, knocking the Poison Pokemon into a tree. Ace watched in awe as this new Pokemon dealt such incredible damage to the Salazzle. He then turned around to see the Pokemon's owner.

It was a man with a wild, bushy beard and incredibly messy hair. He wore a long, black coat as well as black hiking pants and boots. The man also had what appeared to be an ancient-looking silver key with a green gemstone in the hole at the top hanging by a chain around his neck. The man pulled a Pokeball from his belt. "Pokeball, go!" He called as he tossed the ball at the Salazzle. The Poison Pokemon was sucked up into the ball. It wobbled once, twice, three times… Ding! The Salazzle that had been terrorizing Bluemount City and its nearby Pokemon had been captured at last!

"Wow! That was awesome, mister!" Ace said as the mysterious man went to pick up his Pokeball.

"Ah, it wasn't me who did the work." He responded kindly. "Twas my trusty Pinight who worked to help me capture this rapscallion!" He patted the porcupine Pokemon proudly.

"Pinight, huh?" Ace said, pulling out his Pokedex to get this Pokemon's entry.

"Pinight," the Pokedex said, "the Needle Knight Pokemon. A Grass and Steel type and the evolved form of Porcupierce and Pinecupine. The pine needles that once made up the back of this Pokemon have turned to a steel-like armor that covers its entire body. This armor protects it from attacks and also works to attract mates based on how shiny it is."

"Wow!" Ace exclaimed. "That's such a cool Pokemon!"

The Pinight's trainer cleared his throat. "Ahem. Aren't you forgetting something?" He asked. Realization suddenly dawned on Ace. In the wake of how cool this trainer and his Pinight were, he had forgotten that Eevee had been badly poisoned. "Worry not, young man." The man said. "I have plenty of Antidotes." He handed one to Ace, which Ace immediately used to heal Eevee.

"Vee." Eevee said happily now that it was healed.

"Thank you so much, sir!" Ace said to the man.

The man smiled. "Call me Henry." He replied. "So, it seems that you are out here doing some extra training. Am I correct?"

"Yep!" Ace replied. "I'm trying to get ready to challenge Norton the Gym Leader again!"

"Well, then you shall need a sparring partner with skills to match him, would you not?" Henry said.

Ace started to get what the man was saying. He grinned. "Eevee, attack his Pinight with Swift!"

"Dodge it, old friend, and use Needle Lance!"

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Venomilk, use Return!"

"Venoooomilk!" Venomilk rammed into Chris' Woodcheek, knocking it out after a fierce battle.

"Woodcheek is unable to battle!" Clyde declared. "Venomilk is the winner!"

As Chris returned his fallen Woodcheek to its ball, Cammie and Annie watched from the stands with interest. "Wow. Woodcheek lasted longer than I thought it would." Cammie said.

"It's no surprise." Annie replied. "He's been training it a lot."

"Really?" Cammie asked. "How come I've never seen them train?"

"They do it mostly at night." Annie explained.

"Is that why I got woken up at four last night by someone yelling at their Pokemon to use Bullet Seed?"

Annie giggled. "Chris is a passionate trainer." She explained. "He wants to be the best, so he works hard for it."

"Yeah, but training at four in the morning?" Cammie said. "Might be a little bit obsessive."

Chris pulled out his next and last Pokeball. "Aerodactyl, take him down!" Chris yelled as he tossed his ball into the air, causing his trusty Aerodactyl to soar out of it.

"Dactyyyyl!" Aerodactyl roared as it flew through the air. The battle was just starting to heat up.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"So… I can't teach Eevee Return, huh?"

Henry nodded sadly. "I'm sorry, my boy, but no. Not without a TM, anyways."

Ace looked over at his Eevee playing with his Weasea and Henry's Pinight. Eevee had been his partner ever since Ace had started on his Pokemon journey. But now, knowing that one of the moves Ace had taught him was hurting Eevee… Did he deserve to be his partner anymore? "What kind of Pokemon trainer hurts their own Pokemon?" Ace asked. "I mean, Take Down is causing Eevee damage. If I don't get rid of that move…" Ace stopped speaking. He didn't want to even think about it.

Henry acknowledged the boy sadly. "If I may say something, Ace," he said, "the price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. Tell me, how long has Eevee known Take Down?"

Ace thought back to when he first taught Eevee that move. "Ever since my third Gym Battle." He said. "Take Down was the move that helped us beat Lt. Surge back in Kanto. I can't believe that was five years ago."

"So, five years of Eevee using its own life to battle for you…" Henry said. "That must make your Pokemon essentially priceless to you, wouldn't it?"

Ace smiled. He looked over at Eevee, who was currently hanging on to one of Pinight's lances laughing with glee. "Yeah." Ace said. "He's priceless."

Henry grinned. "You know, Ace, there are other ways to conquer Norton than teaching your Pokemon a new move."

Ace looked back at Henry. "There are?"

Henry nodded, then glanced down at his hand. Ace looked down and saw that Henry was offering him a Pokeball. "All good things are wild and free." Henry said. "Especially when it comes to Pokemon. Do you understand what you need to do now, Ace?"

Ace thought for a moment, then accepted the Pokeball and nodded. He knew exactly what he had to do to defeat Norton now.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

"Venomilk, use Bide!"

The battle between Chris and Norton was still going on, and it was still anyone's game. Since Aerodactyl could fly around out of Venomilk's reach, the snake Pokemon was left with very few attacks it could use. Bide was the only one that could hit from a distance, so Norton had basically just been using that move. Aerodactyl had gotten hit a couple of times, but nothing serious had happened to it yet.

"Aerodactyl, strike while you can then get out of the way!" Chris advised. "Use Rock Tomb!"

Aerodactyl sent a rain of rocks hurtling down at Venomilk, then hit it again with the same attack. Aerodactyl then started flying in circles above Venomilk so it couldn't get a clear shot at it.

"Venomilk, release your energy, but aim at the ground!" Chris was surprised to see Venomilk blast its stored Bide energy at the ground, which lifted it off up into the air, right next to Aerodactyl. "Now use Body Slam!" Venomilk whipped its tail around, slamming it against Aerodactyl's back and sending it crashing to the ground.

"Aerodactyl!" Chris was worried. He hadn't expected Norton to be able to reach him up in the air. And what's worse was that Chris was noticing small electrical sparks on Aerodactyl. That Body Slam move had paralyzed it. "Aerodactyl, quick! Fly back up out of reach!"

Aerodactyl tried to move, but couldn't due to the paralysis. "Venomilk, use Return!" Venomilk charged the prehistoric Flying Pokemon, its body glowing with a pink aura, and rammed it, sending Aerodactyl flying backwards. Aerodactyl had sustained significant damage from those two attacks, but still managed to get back up.

"What do I do now?" Chris said quietly. In moments like this, he knew he had a tendency to overthink things. He couldn't afford to get stuck in his head right now. He had to rely on his instincts. Fortunately, his instincts knew what to do. "Aerodactyl, can you fly at all?"

"Dactyl." Aerodactyl said weakly. It lifted itself up into the air, but couldn't get more than a few feet off the ground due to its paralysis.

"That's perfect!" Chris said. "Fly at Venomilk's head and use Wing Attack!"

Aerodactyl's wings glowed white as it flew towards Venomilk, hitting it in the face with its attack. Unfortunately, Venomilk had caught Aerodactyl in its mouth, but this was exactly what Chris wanted.

"Venomilk, throw Aerodactyl, then ram him with another Return!" Norton commanded. Venomilk whipped its head around to throw Aerodactyl up into the air. But, before it could attack it with Return, Chris had one more command to end this battle.

"Aerodactyl, fly up out of range and use Flamethrower!" After being bitten by Venomilk, its venom had seeped into Aerodactyl's body, rendering it free from paralysis. Now it could fly freely, and it moved up and out of range to blast the snake Pokemon below it with Flamethrower. When the dust settled, Venomilk was down for the count.

"Venomilk is unable to battle!" Clyde the referee declared. "The winner is Aerodactyl, which means victory goes to the challenger, Chris!"

Cammie and Annie both cheered from the stands as Chris and Norton approached each other at the center of the battlefield. "Impressive." Norton said. "You remembered Venomilk's venom could heal your Pokemon and used it against me."

Chris grinned. "Hey, it worked for Ace last time." He said. "I figured it would work for me too."

Clyde stepped forward with a plain white plate, on which sat the Health Badge. "This Health Badge is yours now, Chris." Norton said, handing the badge to Chris. "I'm proud to give it to you."

Chris accepted the badge and placed it in his badge case. This was the first step to becoming a Gym Leader. He just knew it.

"Now, I don't suppose you kids would want to wait for your other friend to show up, would you?" Norton asked. "I imagine he'll be coming here for his rematch any second now."

Right on cue, the doors to the Gym burst open. "Norton, my friend!" Came a booming voice from the front entrance.

Norton turned to see Ace's new friend, Henry, as well as Ace himself. Norton walked over to them and shook Henry's hand. "Henry! Great to see you!" He said. "What are you doing all the way over here in Bluemount City?"

"Ah, I was just walking the wild trails of the region and thought you could use some help with that Salazzle problem I'd been hearing about." Henry said. He handed Norton a Pokeball. "That ball there's got the darned thing inside of it. Best hand that off to Officer Jenny so she can take care of it."

"Thanks for your help, Henry!" Norton said. "And, Ace, I assume you're here for your rematch?"

Ace nodded. "Yep! And, this time, _I'm_ coming out on top!"

"Well, we'll see about that." Norton said with a chuckle. "Henry, would you care to stick around and watch?"

"I'd be happy to!" Henry said. He ruffled up Ace's hair. "Give this Gym Leader a run for his money, kiddo!" He said.

Ace grinned. "Thanks, Henry! I will!"

Ace and Norton both took their positions at each end of the battlefield. "Okay. Let's see if your training paid off!" Norton said with fire in his eyes.

"Oh, it has!" Ace said with the same fire burning within himself. "Just wait and see!"

Another battle sure to be a great one! Will Ace's training have paid off? We'll find out as the journey continues.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Forces of Nature**_

"Venomilk, come out now!"

"Weasea, I choose you!"

It was time for Ace's rematch with Norton, the Bluemount City Gym Leader. His friends, Chris, Cammie, Annie, and his new friend, Henry, were all watching from the stands. "So, did Ace actually manage to teach Eevee Return?" Cammie asked Henry.

"I'm afraid not." Henry replied.

"Did he teach Eevee any new moves at all?" Annie asked. Henry shook his head. "Then why is he so confident?"

Henry smiled. "Wait and see, young lady. Wait and see."

"Venomilk, use Body Slam!" Norton commanded. Venomilk speedily slithered up to Weasea. Ace's friends all expected him to tell Weasea to dodge the attack, but Ace just grinned and let Weasea get hit by Venomilk. Fortunately, it could still fight, but it had taken a lot of damage.

"What is Ace doing?!" Cammie exclaimed. "He's not even doing anything!"

Henry chuckled. "Well, he's about to do something." He said.

Ace grinned. "Ready, Weasea?" He asked.

"Weasea!" Weasea squeaked excitedly.

"All right then! Use Brine!" Weasea charged up a huge blast of water, then shot it at Venomilk. Venomilk was pushed back several feet by the attack, and appeared to have suffered significant damage.

"So, _that's_ why Ace let Weasea take the attack." Annie said, realizing Ace's plan.

"Why did he?" Chris asked.

"Brine is a move that's power doubles once its user is damaged enough." Annie explained. She turned to Henry. "So, Ace _did_ succeed in training his Pokemon!"

Henry nodded. "And that's not the only trick he has up his sleeve." He said.

Back down on the battlefield, Norton looked especially impressed by Weasea's new attack. "Very nice!" He complimented Ace. "That move should come in handy in the future."

Ace grinned. "And it's gonna come in handy right now! Weasea, use Brine again!"

"Dodge it, Venomilk, and use Return!" Venomilk ducked under the water blast and rushed towards Weasea, glowing with a pink aura.

"Dodge it, Weasea! Quick!"

Weasea tried to jump out of the way, but it wasn't fast enough. Venomilk hit it, knocking it out. "Weasea is unable to battle!" Clyde the referee declared. "The winner is Venomilk!"

Ace returned Weasea to its ball. "You did great, buddy." He said to it. "Take a nice, long rest." He then pocketed that ball and pulled out another one. "Eevee, let's go!" He tossed the ball out and Eevee sprang forth.

"Vee!" It said confidently.

"Oh, no!" Annie said. "Ace is down to his last Pokemon!"

"And, if Eevee didn't learn any new moves, how is he going to win?" Chris asked.

None of the trainers seemed to notice that Henry was smiling.

"Eevee, use Swift!" Eevee whipped its tail around, sending a barrage of stars at Venomilk. The attack did very little damage, though.

"Venomilk, use Bide!" Venomilk started glowing red. Ace had been expecting this, but he was ready for it.

"Eevee, use Take Down!" He commanded. "Then jump back and use Double Team!"

Eevee rushed towards Venomilk and slammed into it. Then it jumped back and summoned several copies of itself. Venomilk released its Bide energy in the form of a white energy beam, but only hit one of the copies.

"So, you didn't teach Eevee a move to replace Take Down." Norton observed.

"Unfortunately, no." Ace admitted. "But we still have one secret weapon left with us! Eevee, run around the arena and keep using Take Down!"

Eevee and its remaining copies all ran around the battlefield to try and confuse Venomilk. The real Eevee lunged at the snake Pokemon several times, hitting it with Take Down again and again.

"Enough of this! Venomilk, wait for an opportunity, then use Return!"Venomilk waited until the real Eevee slammed into it again. With the real Eevee in its sights, nothing was able to stop its attack.

"Venooooomilk!" Venomilk slammed into Eevee with Return. The poor Pokemon flew backwards and slammed into the back wall of the battlefield, knocking it out.

"Eevee is unable to battle!" Clyde declared. "Venomilk is the winner, which means victory goes to-"

"Wait!" All eyes turned to Ace, who was holding one more Pokeball up in his hand. "I still have one Pokemon left!" He revealed.

Chris, Cammie, and Annie were all shocked, Norton smiled, ready for more action, and Henry smiled too as he recalled what had happened earlier in the woods…

 **…**

"All good things are wild and free." Henry had said as he offered Ace a Pokeball. "Especially when it comes to Pokemon. Do you understand what you need to do now, Ace?"

Ace thought for a moment, then accepted the Pokeball and nodded. "You're saying I need to catch a new wild Pokemon." He guessed. Henry nodded.

"Indeed." He said. "These woods hold a virtual bounty of powerful Pokemon for you to use in your battle with Norton. All you need to do is search hard to find the right one."

Ace grinned and nodded. "Eevee, Weasea, come on!" He said. "Let's go catch a new Pokemon!" Ace ran off deeper into the woods with his Pokemon, followed closely behind by Henry. Ace looked around for quite a while, but couldn't seem to find anything. Until, that is, Weasea picked up a scent with its powerful nose.

"Wea! Weasea!" It barked, heading quickly down one path. Ace followed closely behind his Pokemon until they came to a clearing. Fortunately, unlike the last time he had followed Weasea's nose, there wasn't a giant beehive there. There was, however, a little Grass Pokemon.

"All right!" Ace said. "Let's battle!"

 **…**

Ace looked down at the Pokeball in his hands. He was confident that this Pokemon could provide the key to his victory today. He looked back at Henry in the stands and gave him and his other friends a thumbs up. Then he turned back to Norton and threw out his Pokeball.

"Pinecupine, let's go!" A small, green porcupine-like Pokemon with a collection of huge, sharp pine needles covering its back appeared from the Pokeball.

"Pine Pine!" It said confidently.

"Pinecupine?" Annie pulled out her Pokedex to get Ace's new Pokemon's entry.

"Pinecupine," the Pokedex said, "the Pine Needle Pokemon. A Grass type. This Pokemon's back is covered in incredibly sharp, grassy needles that it uses to protect itself from predators."

"So, Ace got a new Pokemon." Chris observed. "That must be his secret weapon."

"And a very powerful secret weapon, at that." Henry said. "Just watch."

Ace grinned confidently. He knew he could win this battle. He just had to play it right. "Pinecupine, use Grassy Terrain!" He commanded.

"Pine Pine!" Pinecupine struck the ground with its fist, sending a surge of grass across the battlefield. The Grassy Terrain also seemed to power up Pinecupine a little bit, as it briefly glowed red.

"It says here that Pinecupine's ability is Grass Pelt." Annie said, still studying her Pokedex. "It boosts a Pokemon's defense stat while in Grassy Terrain."

"Wow!" Chris exclaimed. "Ace just might be able to win then!"

Norton was especially impressed with Ace's new Pokemon. "Nice move." He said. "Using Grassy Terrain to boost your Pokemon's defense. But I'm afraid it won't help you that much. Venomilk, use Return!"

Venomilk glowed pink and rushed towards Pinecupine. This was exactly what Ace was hoping for. "Pinecupine, use Spiky Shield!" He commanded.

"Pine!" Pinecupine turned its back to Venomilk and its grassy back needles glowed green. Venomilk slammed into them, causing no damage to Pinecupine, but a lot to itself.

"Now, Pinecupine, use Pin Missile!" Since Pinecupine was already facing its back towards Venomilk, it fired off a series of sharp shots at it. Because of the close range, Venomilk took a lot of damage and was actually sent flying back a few feet. "Venomilk, you okay?" Norton asked.

Venomilk got back up, though it took some effort. "Venom." It said confidently. Norton smiled.

"All right then! Use Bide!" Venomilk's body started glowing red. Ace knew he had to end this now.

"Pinecupine, get up close and use Razor Leaf!" Pinecupine jumped right in front of Venomilk and fired a series of extra-sharp leaves at it.\

"Venoooom!" Venomilk wailed as it got bombarded by the leaf attack.

"Now, finish him off! Pin Missile!" If this didn't work, at the close distance they were with each other, Venomilk's Bide attack would surely knock Pinecupine out. Pinecupine jumped up so it was level with Venomilk's head, then fired its Pin Missile attack.

"Pine Piiiiine!" It yelled defiantly.

"Venooooom!" Venomilk wailed as Pin Missle hit it directly in the face, causing a critical hit. The snake Pokemon flew backwards and dropped down to the floor. It wasn't moving. The battle was over.

"Venomilk is unable to battle!" Clyde declared. "The winner is Pinecupine, which means victory goes to the challenger, Ace!"

Ace's friends all cheered and ran down from the stands to congratulate him. Henry stood up and clapped for the young trainer as Norton came forward to present Ace with his badge.

"The Health Badge is yours now, Ace." Norton said, handing Ace the red cross-shaped badge. "Congratulations! You've earned it."

Ace grinned ecstatically and put the Health Badge in his badge case. It had taken a lot of practice and a lot of training, but he had finally come out on top. "Way to go, buddy!" Chris said, clapping Ace on the back.

"Yeah! That was a great battle!" Cammie added.

"Way to go, Ace!" Annie cheered.

"Ace." Ace and his friends turned to see Henry walking down from the stands towards them. "That truly was an impressive battle." He said. "I wish you and your friends good luck on the rest of your journey."

Ace smiled. "Thanks, Henry." He said. "I couldn't have won without your help."

Henry returned Ace's smile. "If you and your friends are still in town tomorrow, why don't you all stop by the Bluemount City Bookstore?" He said. "There's a special event going on there that I think you all would very much like to see."

"Thanks!" Ace said. "We'll be there!"

Ace and his friends left the Bluemount City Gym with a lot of pride. Ace couldn't stop looking down at the badge he had just won, all thanks to his new Pokemon, Pinecupine. With him, Weasea, and, of course, Eevee, Ace now felt like he could take on the world. He and his friends went back to the Pokemon Center to get a good night's rest. The four of them all went to bed with dreams of their next adventure swirling around in their heads.

What are these adventures that await our heroes tomorrow? We'll find out as the journey continues.


	11. Chapter 11

_**The Champion**_

"I can't believe you!"

"Hey, come on, Luce'. We may have failed one, or two, or…Four times, but I feel a real hot streak coming!"

Lucy and Charles were both walking back to Bluemount City after having blasted off and landed several miles away. Lucy's hatred for her partner grew every time that happened to them, but this time was too much. She turned around and got up close in her partner's face. "You feel a ' _hot streak?_ '" She growled. "Face it, Charles! Your plans never work! You need to realize that _you_ are not the brains of this operation! That _you_ are not the only one with plans we can use to steal Pokemon! That _you_ are nothing more than a stupid, greasy haired son of a-"

Lucy's tirade was interrupted by her phone ringing. She checked to see who it was and nearly jumped 50 feet in the air when she saw it was her father, Giovanni. She quickly answered the call, and Giovanni's face appeared on her phone screen. "Status report." He said, always putting business first. "Have the two of you caught any new Pokemon that could be of value to Team Rocket?"

"Well, sir, we haven't caught any native Insmou Pokemon yet," Lucy said, glaring at Charles, "but we have caught something." She pulled out one of her Pokeballs and threw it up in the air. From the ball appeared the Rotom she had captured back on the SS Anne. "I was successful in capturing this Rotom." Lucy explained. "I believe its ability to upgrade and hack machinery will be of great use to Team Rocket."

"Hmm." Was all her father said in response to that. Lucy could tell he was displeased, but she didn't know why. A Rotom would definitely come in handy on missions, and after all their goal _was_ to capture as many Pokemon as they could. "Lucy, I would like to speak privately with Charles for a moment."

That statement surprised Lucy more than her father's apparent disappointment. "Um, sir, why would you want to-"

"Just walk away, Lucy." Giovanni said. "Give us some privacy."

Lucy knew it was no use fighting her father's orders. "Of course, sir." She said. She then started walking further down the path back to Bluemount City, leaving her phone with Charles.

Charles was downright terrified of talking to Giovanni alone, especially since he knew what this was about. "Sir, if you would just let me-"

"What were my orders to you, Charles?" Giovanni said. Charles could hear cold rage and malice in every syllable of that sentence. He gulped nervously.

"T-to not let Lucy capture any more Pokemon, sir." He answered.

"Exactly!" Giovanni said. "And yet you somehow slipped up, allowing her to capture one that could be detrimental to the operations of Team Rocket!"

"Sir, I swear! I tried to convince her to get rid of it after she caught it!" Charles defended himself. "But she wouldn't listen to me!"

"If she doesn't listen to you, _make_ her listen to you!" Giovanni ordered. "See to it that Lucy does not capture any more Pokemon, or else there will be dire consequences. I cannot risk Lucy assembling a team of powerful Pokemon for her to use. If you cannot succeed in preventing that, then I can assure you that you and everyone you care about will become a target of Team Rocket. See to it that your mission succeeds, or else." And with that, Giovanni ended the call.

Charles took a few moments to regain his composure after that conversation, then continued down the path to meet back up with Lucy. "What did my father say?" Lucy asked without turning around to face Charles.

"Oh, you know, just that he loves you and misses you and hopes you're doing fine." Charles lied. Lucy didn't respond. She appeared to be too busy focusing on a sign posted just outside of Bluemount City. "Uh, whatcha looking at?"

Charles stepped forward to get a clear view of the sign. It read "Insmou Champion autograph session and battle exhibition today at Bluemount City Bookstore." Charles grinned.

"Let me guess." Lucy said. "You have a plan."

"And a pretty good one too." While Charles smiled wickedly on the outside, on the inside he was more nervous than a Wimpod battling a Rayquaza. He had to make sure Lucy couldn't steal the Champion's Pokemon. No matter what it took.

 **…**

"So, why do you think Henry asked us to come to the bookstore today?" Chris asked.

"Who knows?" Ace replied. "But he probably had a good reason.

The four trainers were walking on the road to the Bluemount City Bookstore. The other day, after Ace's battle with the city's Gym Leader, his new friend, Henry, had told him and his friends to come to the bookstore. He had said there was a special event going on there today, but none of the trainers knew what it could possibly be.

"As long as we're done soon, I'm fine with going." Cammie said. "We need to start on the road to Harborstone City today if I'm going to be able to compete there." Harborstone City was where the first Pokemon Contest of the season in Insmou was being held, and Cammie couldn't take any chances that would cause her to miss it. If she wanted to make it to the Grand Festival this time around, she needed to compete in every contest possible.

"Relax, Cammie, we'll totally make it there on time." Ace said. "So, what sort of surprise do you think Henry has planned for us?"

"I really hope it's not to read something." Chris groaned.

"It's probably just that some famous author's in town and he wanted us to meet them." Cammie suggested.

Annie suddenly stopped walking. "I think I might know why." She said, pointing up to a sign hanging in the window of a nearby Pokemon supply shop. Like the one just outside Bluestone City, this sign advertised that the Champion of the region would be at the bookstore. The others all immediately got fired up.

"The Champion's here in town?!" Chris exclaimed excitedly. "That's so cool!"

"Wait, you guys don't think Henry's really the Champion, do you?" Cammie asked.

"It's possible." Annie replied. "What do you think, Ace?"

But Ace wasn't listening. He was too focused on the line in the advertisement that mentioned a "battle exhibition." Is that why Henry had wanted them all to come to the bookstore? So Ace could battle the Champion? Ace was suddenly filled with this white hot, boiling energy that flowed all throughout his body.

"Ace?"

Ace was shook back to reality by Annie's voice. He started high-tailing it to the bookstore. "Hurry up, guys!" He called back to his friends. He couldn't wait for them. He had to battle the Champion.

The four trainers finally made it to the bookstore only to discover that there was already a huge crowd there, all of whom wanted to be a part of the special battle exhibition. "Wow!" Chris said as he looked around. "Guess we got here a little too late."

"Not at all, my friends!" The four trainers looked over and saw Henry approaching them. They all rushed over to meet him.

"Henry, why didn't you tell us that you're the Champion?" Ace asked.

"Well, because I'm not the Champion." Henry replied. "No, no, the Champion is actually my dear older sister. Come. I would very much love it if you all could meet her."

Up at the front of the store, a table was set up where the Champion, a woman with short, grey hair wearing a simple sweater with a silver key that had a purple gemstone embedded in its hole on a chain around her neck, was sitting and signing autographs. "So, who should I make this out to?" She asked the person at the front of the line.

"Oh, go ahead and make that out to Charles." Said the man at the front. He had curly, black hair and a beard, both of which were clearly fake. Anyone with half a brain could tell that this was Charles in disguise. Lucy stood next to him wearing a blonde wig and an "I heart Insmou" tourist t-shirt, and looked like she hated every little bit of it.

The Champion held the key around her neck up to her eye and peered at the two of them through that. Lucy somehow got the impression that this woman was staring right into her very soul. She lowered the key and signed the book Charles had purchased to be autographed. "Excellent!" She said. "Be sure to stick around for the battle exhibition."

"Oh, we will." Charles said, chuckling maliciously. Oddly enough, Lucy didn't berate or hit him or anything. She just kept her head down as she and Charles moved back to where the other fans were standing. As they walked, the two of them passed by the four trainers and Henry.

"Stephanie!" Henry called over to the Champion. "Come over here! These are the children I told you about."

The Champion, apparently named Stephanie, got up and came over to give her brother a hug. "Henry! It's so great that you're in town!" She said. "So, who did you say these four are?"

"This is Ace, Annie, Chris, and Cammie." Henry said,pointing to each of the trainers in turn. "They're just four talented trainers whom I wanted you to meet."

"It's very nice to meet you, Miss Stephanie." Annie said.

Stephanie smiled. "Well, thank you." She said kindly. "It's a pleasure meeting all of you too."

Annie then peered behind Stephanie at her table that had been set up. She noticed a strange-looking rock sitting on it. "What's that on your table?" Annie asked. "Is it a paperweight?"

Stephanie giggled. "Hardly." She replied. "It's actually my favorite Pokemon." She went over and retrieved the rock. "Spiritomb, come out and meet these four, young trainers." She said.

All of a sudden, a mass of swirling dark energy came up from the rock, forming the head of the Ghost Pokemon Spiritomb. "Tomb!" It growled.

Cammie suddenly screamed. "What? What is it?" Chris asked.

"D-D-D-Dark Pokemon." Cammie stammered. "I h-h-hate Dark type Pokemon!"

Spiritomb then turned to look at Annie. Annie let out a squeak of fear, then quickly ducked as Spiritomb fired a Dark Pulse attack at her. "Oh, my Arceus!" Stephanie said. "I'm so sorry about that! Spiritomb, return." She returned Spiritomb to its Pokeball. "You'll have to forgive him. Spiritomb doesn't usually act like that."

"It's okay." Annie said. "I'm used to it. Pokemon sort of attack me all the time."

Stephanie got a thoughtful look on her face, then held her key up to her eye again and peered at the four trainers through the gem in the hole. Ace noticed that Stephanie's key looked exactly like Henry's, only with a purple gem instead of green. Stephanie suddenly frowned as she observed the four trainers through her key. Finally, she lowered it and said in a rather forced-sounding voice. "I'm so glad you're all here. Please remember to stick around for the battle exhibition."

Stephanie then walked back over to continue signing autographs as Ace, Annie, Chris, and Cammie all stood with the rest of the crowd as they waited. "What do you think that was all about?" Cammie asked. "Her looking at us through that weird key and everything I mean."

Ace shrugged. "Maybe it makes her eyesight better." He suggested. "Could be a key-shaped monocle."

Chris shook his head. "No way." He said. "Something's up."

"Look, we shouldn't worry about Stephanie and that key." Ace said. "What we should really be focusing on is what Pokemon I'll use when I battle her!"

"Considering her main Pokemon's a Spiritomb, I don't think any of your Pokemon have a chance against her." Chris said. "Spiritombs are tough opponents."

"Exactly." Annie concurred. "Their typing makes it so that only Fairy type attacks are super effective against them. Maybe me and Mimikyu should battle her then."

"I say we forget battling her and just get the heck out of here!" Cammie whimpered.

"Seriously?" Chris asked. "What's your deal with Dark types, anyways?"

Cammie shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it." She said.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the room, Charles and Lucy were already plotting to steal the Champion's Pokemon. "So, here's what I'm thinking..." Charles went on. "We wait until the battle exhibition's almost over so that her Pokemon are nice and weakened, then we take off our disguises and swoop in Team Rocket-style!"

Lucy shrugged. "Sure. Whatever." She said in a monotonous voice. Charles looked at her funny. He had never had Lucy just outright agree to one of his plans before. Was something wrong with her?

"Thank you all for coming!" Everyone in the crowd's attention turned to Stephanie at the front of the bookstore. "It's time for the event that I'm sure you've all been waiting for!" Stephanie announced. "The battle exhibition!" The crowd cheered as Stephanie held her key up to her eye again. "Now, to choose my opponent!" She looked around the crowd, studying each of them through her key's gemstone. She saw that Ace looked like he especially wanted to battle her. Chris sand Annie looked excited too, but Cammie just looked terrified at the thought of battling Stephanie's Spiritomb. She then shifted focus over to the other people in the crowd, until she finally found her opponent. "You there!" Stephanie said, pointing directly at Lucy. "You'll be my opponent!"

Everyone was surprised, and Ace was just plain disappointed. Lucy, however, looked determined. She stepped forward. "All right." She said in a serious tone. "Let's do this."

Stephanie grinned. "Of course, you'll have to remove that disguise first." She said.

Charles jumped. How did Stephanie know that Lucy was wearing a disguise? He knew that, if he wanted to keep on Giovanni's good side, he would have to act now. Charles threw off his own disguise, causing the entire crowd in the bookstore to gasp as they saw a member of Team Rocket among them. "To protect the world from devastation…" Charles began. Though he wouldn't get to finish the motto.

"Spiritomb, go! Use Shadow Ball!" Stephanie threw out her Spiritomb, causing Cammie to scream as it charged up a Shadow Ball attack and launched it at Charles. Charles was sent flying through the ceiling of the bookstore from the force of the attack, and then went soaring through the air.

"Lucy!" Charles yelled as he flew through the air. "Stick to the plan! _I'm blasting off again!_ "

Lucy looked up at the hole Charles had made in the ceiling, then turned to Stephanie. "I assume you're just waiting to do that to me too." She said.

Stephanie grinned. "Only if you cause trouble." She replied. "I said we'd battle first anyways."

Lucy's determined expression stayed on her face as she removed her disguise, revealing the Team Rocket uniform she wore underneath.

"Team Rocket!" One guest in the bookstore gasped.

"Is she going to steal our Pokemon?" Another asked worriedly.

"Why does the Champion want to battle her?" A third wondered.

Lucy stepped forward as the patrons of the bookstore stepped back to form a proper battle area for her and Stephanie. Stephanie let her Spiritomb stay out, planning to use him for the battle, then pulled out another Pokeball. "You have two Pokemon, correct?" Stephanie asked. Lucy nodded, though she had no idea how Stephanie knew that. "Then this will be a double battle. Aegislash, go!"

Stephanie threw out her Pokeball, causing a Pokemon that looked similar to a regular Aegislash to appear from it. This Pokemon, instead of a sword, resembled a large fountain pen with an ancient-looking book instead of a shield. "Aegislash." It said in a mystic-sounding, ghostly voice.

"That's an Aegislash?" Ace wondered aloud. He pulled out his Pokedex.

"Aegislash Insmouan Forme." the Pokedex said. "A Ghost and Water type, and the evolved form of Doublade and Honedge. When colonists first came to Insmou, there was no need for a warrior class, so Aegislash adapted to become a tool used by writers and recordkeepers instead."

"Oh! So, it's like Sandshrew and Vulpix in Alola!" Annie observed. "I wonder what other Pokemon look different in Insmou."

Meanwhile, Lucy and Stephanie were beginning their battle. "Nidorina, Rotom, come out now!" Lucy called out her two Pokemon. Stephanie eyed the two of them through her key and smiled.

"How about a little wager?" Stephanie offered. "If you can defeat me, my Pokemon are yours." The crowd murmured in surprise. Was she serious about this? The Champion just offering her Pokemon up to Team Rocket? But Lucy just smiled.

"Deal." She said. "Rotom, use Discharge! Nidorina, Poison Sting!"

"Aegislash, get in front of Spiritomb and use Inkspell!" Stephanie commanded. Aegislash hovered over so that it was in front of Spiritomb, then the text in the book it had began glowing blue. An inky, black energy shield formed in front of the two Pokemon, and both Rotom and Nidorina's attacks hit it. When the dust cleared, Aegislash and Spiritomb were unharmed, and Rotom and Nidorina glowed faintly blue for a moment.

"What just happened?" Lucy asked.

Stephanie grinned. "Inkspell is Insmouan Aegislash's signature move." She explained. "It protects the user from damage and lowers the attacking Pokemon's special attack if it gets hit by a non-physical move. Now, Spiritomb, use Shadow Ball!"

"Spiriiiitomb!" Spiritomb charged up the attack and fired it at Rotom. It was a direct, super effective hit, and Rotom went crashing to the ground, having been knocked out in one move.

"And, Aegislash, you use Hydro Pump!"

Aegislash aimed the point of its pen-like body at Nidorina and fired a powerful stream of water at her. Nidorina jumped out of the way just in time, though, as Lucy had trained her quite well. "Good job, Nidorina!" Lucy said. "Now use Attract on Spiritomb!"

Nidorina winked at Spiritomb, sending a wave of hearts towards it. Stephanie grinned as the hearts hit Spiritomb, having no effect whatsoever.

"Sorry, dear." Stephanis told Lucy. "My Spiritomb's female. Spiritomb, use Curse!" Spiritomb glowed red for a moment, losing half its health to put a curse on Lucy's Nidorina. The Poison Pokemon suddenly started glowing red too and cried out in great pain.

"Nidorina, no!" Lucy yelled. Her Rotom was down and her Nidorina had just been cursed. This was what she had been afraid of. "He's right." The crowd started murmuring as they saw Lucy start to cry. "He's right." She sobbed, falling to her knees. "I don't deserve to own Pokemon."

Stephanie, sensing the battle was unofficially over, returned both her Pokemon and walked over to kneel down next to Lucy. "Who's right, dear?" She asked.

"My dad." Lucy said, tears flowing down her face. "I overheard him talking to my partner earlier today. He said… He said he didn't want me catching Pokemon. I don't deserve them."

Stephanie put her hand comfortingly on Lucy's shoulder. Lucy looked up at the Champion, comforting a common criminal like she was an ordinary person. What's more, Stephanie was smiling sympathetically. "Your father doesn't think you don't deserve to own Pokemon." She said.

"No, he does!" Lucy sobbed.

Stephanie wrapped Lucy in a comforting hug. "Shhh." She soothed. "No. I could see it plain as day in your aura."

"My… Aura?" Lucy asked quietly.

"Yes." Stephanie said. "You were raised by a man who loved you very much. It killed him to not let you have a Pokemon like other children. Your father loves you more than anything, dear." Stephanie pulled away from the hug so that she was face to face with Lucy. "Perhaps you should ask your partner why your father told him to stop you from catching any new ones." She suggested. "I think he's willing to tell you now."

Lucy sniffled a little and wiped the last remaining tear from her face. "Okay." She said hoarsely. "Okay. I'll do that."

"Good." Stephanie said, getting up and helping Lucy up too. "Go and find him." Lucy smiled a little and nodded. She started heading for the door. "Wait." Lucy stopped and turned back around to face Stephanie again. "When you're ready, come find me." Stephanie said. "We still have a battle to finish." Lucy smiled and nodded, then headed out the door to find Charles.

"Wow…" Ace said in awe. "That was… That was really nice."

Henry walked up to the young trainer and clapped him on the shoulder. "My sister is a very understanding person." He said. "It's how she became so close with her Pokemon, and it's part of the reason why she's the Champion."

Ace smiled understandingly, but there was one thing he still didn't get. "What did she mean when she said she could see Lucy's aura?" He asked Henry.

Henry chuckled. "I haven't the foggiest clue." He replied. "Sometimes my sister says things that are even confusing to me. Now then, it's getting late. You children best be getting on your way if you want to make it to the next town."

Cammie, who had been standing statuesquely still since Stephanie sent out her Spiritomb suddenly moved again. "Oh, my Arceus! You're right!" She exclaimed. "We need to start moving if we want to make it to Harborstone City on time for the Contest!"

Henry chuckled. "I'm sure you'll make it in plenty of time." He said. "Just head down the western road. It'll take you through the White Woods and straight to Harborstone City. But be careful. The White Woods are rumored to be haunted by frightening Ghost Pokemon."

"Hey, as long as they aren't Dark types." Cammie said.

"Seriously, what is it with you and Dark types?" Chris asked curiously as the four trainers exited the bookstore.

Meanwhile, just outside of town down the western road, Charles was staggering back to Bluemount City when he ran into Lucy. "Oh! Hey there, Luce'!" He said, in great pain from his fall after getting blasted off. "So, how'd it go with the Champion?"

"Why does my father want you to stop me from catching Pokemon?" Lucy asked, straight to business.

"Whaaaaaat?" Charles said nervously. "He never said that."

"Cut the crap, Charles!" Lucy demanded. "Tell me the truth! Does he just not have any faith in me? Or is he trying to protect me somehow? I need to know!" Charles still didn't say anything.

"Please." Charles was shocked as Lucy took his hand, tears in her eyes. Ever since he had been partnered with her, he had never seen Lucy look so… Vulnerable. "I need to know." She said. "Please just tell me the truth."

Charles stood there in stunned silence for a few more moments, then sighed. "It's not that he doesn't have any faith in you." He relented. "And he's not trying to protect you either. He knows you're a strong trainer."

"Well, then why doesn't he want me to capture any Pokemon?" Lucy asked.

"It's just that…" Charles tried to find the right words to tell her. "He says that he knows you'll use your Pokemon… To betray him."

Lucy let go of Charles' hand. She was shocked. Her father didn't just _think_ she would betray him. He somehow _knew_ she would, even though betraying him was the furthest thing from her mind. Lucy was born to serve Team Rocket. She would never betray the team, and she would especially never betray her own father. Not like her brother did.

"Is this all because of what Silver did?" Lucy asked.

"He didn't say." Charles admitted. He paused for a moment to consider his next words carefully. "Look, Lucy, do you wanna be the best member of Team Rocket?"

"Yes." Lucy said, not even having to think about her answer. "Like no one ever was."

Charles sighed. "Then, from now on, we do everything by your rules."

Lucy was stunned. "R-really?" She stammered.

Charles grinned. "It's like you said." He replied. "I'm just a stupid, greasy-haired, son of a whatever. You're the real brains of the operation. From now on, we go by whatever you say." Charles extended his hand for Lucy to shake. "Deal?"

Lucy had to wait a moment to make sure this was really happening. "You're just going to disobey my dad like that?" She asked.

"Hey, what are partners for?" Charles replied. "So, we got a deal or what?"

Lucy shook his hand. "Yes." She said. "We have a deal. Now, let's get started on a plan to steal some Pokemon."

Charles smiled as he walked with Lucy down the path that lead to the White Woods, but in the back of his mind he was still worried what Giovanni would do when he found out he was letting his daughter capture more Pokemon. He was a dead man walking right now, but, with his partner as happy as she was, he wouldn't have it any other way.

 **…**

"So, I take it you saw it too?"

Stephanie sipped the tea her brother, Henry had made her as they sat together in Henry's room at the Pokemon Center. "Yes." She replied. "I saw."

Henry sipped his own tea. "It's already begun, then?" He asked. "The end?"

Stephanie set her tea down and approached the window. She could see the full moon in the night sky above Bluemount City. Right now, four young trainers were on the path that would lead them to their destinies. Four destinies that would lead to the possible end of all life in the universe. "Yes." She finally replied. "It's begun."

Henry looked down at his tea cup thoughtfully. "And you're absolutely sure?" He asked his older sister.

"Of course. You saw their auras too, didn't you?" Henry didn't respond. He knew the truth, but he didn't want to hear it. "The Warrior, the Prophet, the Resistance, and the Key…" Stephanie said. "Together, just as the stories said they would be." She turned back to face her brother. "We must call Howard." She said. "To tell him that his key must be kept under guard as well. If Team Horror gets their hands on all three of them…" Stephanie didn't finish. She turned back to look out the window. The light of the moon…. It was hard to believe that soon that beautiful light would vanish completely from this world.

"It has begun." She repeated. "The Great Old One's return has begun."


	12. Chapter 12

_**The White Woods**_

"Are you sure it's this way?"

"Positive! We'll be there in no time!"

"Guys, it's getting pretty dark. Maybe we should stop for the night."

"Chris, relax. Like I said, we'll be there in no time."

Ace, Annie, Chris, and Cammie were all on a journey to get to Harborstone City. The only problem? They had to go through the White Woods first, which were rumored to be haunted by fearsome Ghost Pokemon. Even though the four trainers hadn't seen any Ghost Pokemon yet, the woods were still creepy. The trees in the woods were all ghostly white, and, with the sun having just set, the four trainers were now trapped in almost total darkness.

"Seriously, Cammie, I think we should stop for the night." Chris said again.

"Yeah, I'm with Chris." Annie said. "I can barely see my hand in front of my face."

"No! Guys, we have to keep moving!" Cammie said forcefully. "We need to make it to Harborstone City by 4:00 tomorrow, or I won't be able to compete in the Contest!"

"You do realize that, in order to keep moving, we actually need to be able to see _where_ we're moving, right?" Chris said.

Cammie sighed. "Fine. Sparkoon, come out now!" Cammie tossed her Pokeball into the air, calling out her Sparkoon. The flame on its tail provided a decent amount of light for the group to see by. "Might be a good time to get some practice in before the Contest anyway." Cammie said. "Sparkoon and I have been trying to figure out our technique for the preliminary round."

"You aren't going to use Mimey?" Ace asked. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, he's the one with the most Contest experience."

"Yeah, but I wanted to try training Sparkoon for Contests early." Cammie said. "Now, let's practice that new move we've been trying out! Sparkoon, use Fire Spin!"

"Spaaaaaarkoon!" Sparkoon whipped its tail around in a circle, creating a tornado of fire that flew up into the night sky, illuminating the whole area. A pair of travelers a little bit deeper in the woods saw the light and started heading that way too.

"That was great, Sparkoon!" Cammie said happily. "Okay, now let's try it out with the frisbees."

"Spark! Sparkoon!" Sparkoon said enthusiastically. From her bag, Cammie pulled out three frisbees and threw them up in the air.

"Fire Spin! Let's go!" She commanded. Sparkoon whipped its tail around again, creating a fiery tornado that spun the frisbees all around in the air. Ace, Annie, and Chris were all impressed with how quickly Cammie had managed to train her new Pokemon. This wasn't really a surprise, though, given how many Contests Cammie had trained for in the past five years.

Unfortunately, as she still hasn't had much practice with this Pokemon, the routine wasn't quite perfect. A few seconds after the frisbees got caught up in the flames, one of them got launched out of the Fire Spin and was sent flying over behind some nearby trees. The frisbee's landing was marked by a resounding "OW!"

Cammie ran over in the direction the frisbee had gone to pick it up. "I'm so sorry about that!" She said. "I didn't know there were other people out- Oh, seriously?!" Not only had Cammie found the frisbee, she had also found the person it had hit: Charles of Team Rocket. His partner, Lucy, came running out towards him a moment later.

"What happened?" She asked. "Did you hit your head on a tree, or something?" She noticed Cammie. "Oh, great." She muttered.

Ace, Chris, and Annie all ran forward as well. "Team Rocket!" Ace exclaimed. "What are you two doing here?"

"Trying to numb my aching head at the moment." Charles said with a bump clearly visible on his forehead from getting hit by Cammie's frisbee.

"Let's take them down!" Ace said. "Eevee, come out now!"

"Aerodactyl, you're up!"

"Mimikyu, I choose you!"

"Sparkoon, you ready to battle?"

"Koon!"

"Now, wait just a minute!" Lucy said. "We don't want any trouble!"

"Speak for yourself. I want payback for getting hit in the head!" Charles said "Magneton, come on-"

Lucy grabbed Charles' arm before he could call out his Pokemon. "If we get blasted off now, we'll never find our way out of these Arceus-forsaken woods!" Lucy hissed at him.

"Wait. You guys are lost too?" Chris asked.

"We've been wandering around here all day." Lucy explained. "No matter which way we go, we can't seem to find our way out of these stupid woods!"

"Plus we ran into some Ghost Pokemon a little while ago." Charles whimpered. "They were these little, red bats that came down and stole all the food we had!"

"We would've fought them off if _somebody_ hadn't tried to hide in his sleeping bag first." Lucy growled.

"Ghosts can't attack you if you have the covers over your head! Everyone knows that!" Charles retorted.

"And, if that wasn't enough, they burnt up our map." Lucy went on. "So, now we're stuck with no food, no map, and no idea how to get out of here!"

Ace, Annie, Chris, and Cammie all shared a look. Sure, Lucy and Charles were pretty bad people, but they didn't deserve to go hungry in these haunted woods. Ace sighed. "How about this?" He said. "We can all travel together. That way, we'll have safety in numbers, and you two will have at least some food to share with the rest of us."

Lucy and Charles considered this, then Lucy extended her hand to shake. "Fine." She said. "A temporary alliance. But, the minute we're out of the White Woods…"

"We go back to being enemies." Ace concurred, shaking her hand. "Deal."

"Great! Now, come on! Cough up some food! I'm starving!" Charles said desperately.

The trainers all pooled together their food supplies and shared them with Team Rocket. Little did they know, however, that they were being watched by the same Pokemon that stole Team Rocket's food earlier.

"Echo! Echo! Echo!" The group was suddenly swarmed by a group of little bat Pokemon with red fur and black wings. They all screamed as the bat Pokemon all attacked at once, biting, shooting Embers, and swooping down to steal all their food.

"Aaah! What the heck are these things?!" Chris screamed.

Ace pulled out his Pokedex to check. "Flarecho," the Pokedex said, "the Fire Bat Pokemon. A Fire and Flying type. Flarecho are attracted to sweet-smelling berries and food. They will often swoop down to steal trainers' food to bring back to their master."

"Wait! These Pokemon aren't Ghost types!" Ace said. "Which means we can hit them with this! Eevee, use Swift!"

Eevee whipped its tail around, shooting a wave of stars at the Flarecho that were attacking the group. Since Swift never missed, it hit one of the Flarecho directly, causing it to drop out of the sky. The rest of them, realizing that these trainers had Pokemon stronger than all of them, took off, taking most of the group's food supplies with them.

The group all walked over to the fallen Flarecho. "Nice job, Ace!" Annie said. "You should capture it!"

But, before Ace could pull out a Pokeball, Charles yelled "Mine!" And threw one of his own balls at the Flarecho. It wobbled once, twice, three time… Ding! Charles had captured the Flarecho!

"Hey!" Ace said, annoyed. "I'm the one who battled it! Shouldn't I get to keep it?"

"Sorry, kid. You snooze, you lose." Charles said. "Besides, you would have just treated it nice and trained it, or whatever. Me? I'm gonna huck its ball off a cliff for it stealing our food!"

"Whoa! Okay, time out!" Lucy exclaimed. "You do realize that we can probably use that Pokemon to lead us to where its friends took the food, right?"

It took Charles a few minutes to realize his partner was right. "Oh. Uh, yeah. I guess we could do that first." He said sheepishly. "Flarecho, come out now!" Charles threw his Pokeball into the air and his new Flarecho popped out.

"Flarecho!" It said.

"Okay, Flarecho, lead us to where your friends took our food!" Charles commanded.

"Echo Flarecho!" Flarecho flew up and started leading he group away. The six trainers followed Charles' new Pokemon as it led them straight to a cave deep in the White Woods.

"Geez. That place sure looks creepy." Chris whimpered. "Uh, maybe one of us should stay out here and keep watch."

"Okay. You can do that if you wanna be out here all be yourself." Cammie said as she and the rest of the group went inside the cave. Naturally, Chris followed them, not wanting to be left all by his lonesome.

Flarecho led the group deeper in the cave. The flame from Cammie's Sparkoon's fiery tail was the only light they had. Soon, though, they heard a voice.

"Vam Vam Vam Vam!" It sounded like someone, or rather something, was cackling deep in the heart of the cave.

"What do you think that was?" Chris whimpered.

"Whatever it is, I'm ready to battle it!" Ace replied.

"Shh!" Lucy hissed. "We don't want it to hear us!"

The six trainers all peeked around the corner, looking towards the center of the cave. In that chamber sat a large bat Pokemon, easily as big as a human, with long, black wings that looked like a cloak wrapped around it, a ghostly white face, and red fur all over the rest of it. The large bat was surrounded by a veritable army of Flarechos as well as a huge pile of stolen food. "What is that?" Ace wondered, pulling out his Pokedex.

"Vampyro," the Pokedex said, "the Dracula Pokemon. A Fire and Ghost type and the evolved form of Flarecho. It is said that this Pokemon can suck out a person's soul with its fangs. Few trainers have seen it and lived to tell the tale."

Unfortunately, as the Pokedex did not have a volume control function, it alerted the Vampyro and its Flarecho army. "Vampyro!" The giant bat Pokemon screeched. Its Flarecho army surged forward to swarm the trainers. Fortunately, they had a plan this time.

"Eevee, use Swift!"

"Sparkoon, Fire Spin! Let's go!"

The combination of Eevee and Sparkoon's attacks quickly dispatched the Flarecho army. Their master, however, was also ready for battle. "Pyro!" It roared, flapping its wings and sending a dark surge of wind towards the trainers.

"It's using Ominous Wind!" Annie realized. The six trainers and their Pokemon were all launched backwards by the powerful gust. But they weren't down yet. "Mimikyu, use Shadow Ball!"

Annie's Mimikyu launched a Shadow Ball attack at the Vampyro, but the bat Pokemon was ready. It fired off a Flame Burst attack that not only countered the Shadow Ball, but also dealt damage to Mimikyu due to its secondary effect.

"Leave this to the grown-ups, kids." Lucy said, pulling out a Pokeball. "Nidorina, go! Use Poison Sting!" Lucy threw out her Nidorina, which fired off several poisonous darts at the Vampyro. This attack did minimal damage, however, and the Vampyro responded with another Ominous Wind attack, sending Nidorina flying into its trainer.

"It's too powerful!" Annie said. "We need some way to take it down!"

Fortunately, the group had one Pokemon that seemed to know what to do. "Flarecho!" Charles' new Flarecho flew up and fired a piercing shriek at its former master.

"It's using Supersonic!" Ace deduced as the attack hit the Vampyro, confusing it.

"Vam… Pyro…." Vampyro slurred, wobbling on its feet. It tried charging up another Flame Burst, but the attack just exploded in its face instead.

"Quick! While it's confused, grab the food!" Charles said. The six trainers rushed forward and grabbed as much food as their arms could carry. They then ran off out of the cave and back into the White Woods.

Once the trainers were far enough away from the Vampyro's cave, they sat down to relax. "Good work there, Flarecho." Charles said proudly.

"And to think you were just going to throw him off a cliff." Lucy taunted.

Chris yawned. "Man. All that running made me pretty tired." He said. "Cammie, can we _please_ get some sleep already?"

Cammie wanted to keep moving so she could make it to the contest on time, but she was pretty tired too. "Fine." She relented. "But, first thing tomorrow, we're waking up and heading to Harborstone City.

The six trainers all got in their sleeping bags and began drifting off to sleep. Well, four of them did, anyway. Lucy and Charles stayed up a little bit longer. "So, we're not really working together with these twerps, are we?" Charles asked.

"For now we are." Lucy replied. "But, the minute we get out of the White Woods, we're stealing every Pokemon they have."

Six trainer lost deep in the haunted White Woods. What ghostly adventures await them tomorrow morning? We'll find out as the journey continues.


	13. Chapter 13

_**A Walk Through Time**_

"Ace!"

"Nngh…"

"Ace! Come on! Wake up! We gotta go!"

Ace groaned as his friend shook him awake. He wanted to stay in bed so bad. Just stay in bed, dreaming of his old adventures as a child. But he heard the alarm, the pounding of combat boots coming through the halls, and then there was also the desperation in his friend's voice as he tried to wake Ace up. Ace opened his eyes to see his old friend, Milton, standing by his bedside. "I hate when they attack in the morning." Ace grumbled, sitting up in bed.

"Bet they think they can catch us off guard." Milton reasoned. "Come on! We gotta move!" Milton got up and ran out the door.

Ace got up as quick as he could, threw on his green sergeant jacket, and grabbed his trusted Pokeball from his foot locker. He then walked over to the metal door leading out into the battlezone. He could see his reflection in its shiny surface. His face was rough and unshaven with plenty of scars from battles, his shaggy brown hair was sticking up just like it did 20 years ago when he was 15 and travelling with his friends…

His friends. He hoped Annie, Chris, and Cammie were still out there somewhere, safe from all the violence. Ace shook the thoughts of his friends possibly being dead from his head and ran out the door.

The ruins of Pallet Town: at one time a homely neighborhood and Ace's hometown. Now it was nothing but a war-torn battlefield. "Here they come, sarge!" Came the voice of one of Ace's fellow soldiers.

"Okay, men, get your Pokemon out and ready!" Ace commanded. "Eevee, come out now!" Ace threw his Pokeball up in the air, and out came his trusted Eevee: the Pokemon that had been his partner for 25 years. Eevee was old; some of the tufts of its fur were starting to turn grey, but it was still tough as ever.

"Vee!" It said strongly.

The other soldiers called out their own Pokemon. "Here they come!" One of them yelled. Ace was ready, though. The Ultra Beasts weren't gonna know what hit them.

The wave started out small: a couple Nihilego and Buzzwole flying towards the barracks that used to be the Kanto Pokemon Lab. But then they just came swarming in. Wave after wave of Beasts: Nihilego, Buzzwole, Pheromosa, Xurkitree, and every other type of Beast there had to be was there attacking them.

"I still can't believe you used to study these monsters." Ace said to Milton with a slight grin.

"I know, sarge." Milton said. "But that was before all of this. Now, let's get them!"

Ace nodded. "Eevee, Swift! Now!" Eevee fired a volley of stars at an incoming flock of Nihilego. "Now, Shadow Ball!" Eevee charged up a ball of dark energy and launched it at an approaching Blacephalon, knocking it out in one shot. None of these Beasts were a match for Ace's Eevee.

"Sarge, look!" Milton said urgently, pointing over to the other side of the battlefield. Ace turned and gasped as he saw several of his soldiers getting overwhelmed by a swarm of Beasts. Their Pokemon were all either knocked out or worse. They had no defenses. "Sarge, we gotta help them!" Milton exclaimed. "Charge up Eevee and go save 'em!"

Something Milton said confused Ace. "Charge up?" He asked. "What do you mean?"

"Sarge, we don't have time!" Milton said desperately. "Charge him up now!"

Ace still didn't understand. "What… What do you mean?" He asked.

Milton screamed. Ace turned back around just in time to see a Nihilego swoop down on to him. And then darkness. There was nothing and no one. Everything was gone.

 _Charge up Eevee… What does that mean?_

 _ **Ten years earlier…**_

It had been a rough day at the Gym. Chris had been working for 12 hours straight since five in the morning. It was a tough job, but it needed to be done.

"Son."

Chris didn't respond. Whether this was by choice or just sheer exhaustion wasn't clear.

"Chris!"

Chris turned to see his father, Roark, standing over him. "Chris, you should get on home." He said kindly. "I can take care of the cleaning from here."

Oh, that's right. Chris was cleaning. He sighed and stood up, hiking up his janitorial uniform. "No, dad. I'll finish it." He replied. Chris got back to wiping off the Gym's battlefield. Roark watched him sadly. He still couldn't believe his son had given up on his dreams to become a Gym Leader. In fact, Chris had just given up on having dreams altogether. He didn't have any goals or aspiration aside from cleaning his dad's Gym.

"Hey, Chris?" Chris looked up again. His dad had a kind smile on his face. "How about a battle?"

Chris shook his head. "I don't battle any more." Chris replied. "Just let me finish my work."

"Come on." Roark said kindly. "We could go my Rampardos against your Aerodactyl."

Chris looked up again. "Aerodactyl?" He asked.

"Yeah." Roark said. "Your Pokemon, Aerodactyl. So, how about it?"

Chris looked back down, but not to finish his cleaning. He was in thought.

 _What had happened to his Aerodactyl?_

 _ **Five years earlier…**_

"All right, Johnson, you're on door breach. McAllister, flashbang. We go in hard and fast and end this quickly. Are you ready?"

"One question, ma'am."

"What is it, Johnson?"

"Are you sure _you're_ ready?"

Lucy looked her comrade dead in the eye and, with the most serious tone she could muster, replied, "Yes."

Lucy had spent the last four years on this mission. Building the case, planning the takedown, everything was perfect. She had him right where she wanted him.

"All right, on my signal!" Lucy held up her hand. Her comrades in the International Police waited as her fingers counted down silently. Three… Two… One… Go! Johnson's Machamp knocked the front door to the Team Rocket hideout off its hinges, then McAllister sent in his Raichu to use Flash, stunning the grunts inside. "Go! Go! Go!" Lucy charged in with her Nidorina by her side and the rest of the International Police at her back. The team came in just as hard as Lucy had wanted, cuffing every grunt in the room as fast as they could. But they missed someone.

"Nidorina, come on!" Lucy said to her Pokemon. "He's getting away!" She took off running after the runaway. He turned down one hall, went down another, but then found himself trapped behind a pair of locked doors. "Don't even try using your keycard." Lucy told the runaway as she walked up behind him. "Tech squad's already hacked your systems. Face it. You're caught. Now turn around!"

The runaway turned around and Giovanni looked his daughter right in the eye with a look of pure, fiery hatred. "I knew it would end this way." Giovanni said. "But I'm not going out like this."

"Yes, you are." Lucy said. "Hands in the air now!"

Giovanni grinned. "All right." He said. "Whatever you say." Giovanni raised his hands, revealing the explosives trigger he was holding in one of them.

Lucy's eyes widened. "All units, get out of here! There's a bomb in the-"

 **BOOM!** Giovanni pressed the trigger and the bomb went off. When Lucy woke up after the blast, her father was gone, she was pinned under a pile of rubble, and her Nidorina was buried underneath most of the ceiling and wasn't moving. She had failed. She couldn't take down her father after all.

 _But... I don't want to take down my father._

 _ **Four years earlier…**_

"This is the end, you scumbag!"

"NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Charles was backed into a corner. His Magneton was down for the count, and two Team Rocket grunts were inching towards him. One of the grunts' Houndoom had flames ready to fire from its mouth. The other grunt's Arbok hissed with anticipation. Soon, it would hopefully dine on this poor man's corpse.

"Heh. Look at him!" One of the grunts said. "He's about to piss himself!"

"The boss warned you, didn't he?" The other grunt said. "You had your orders and you disobeyed them!"

"Please!" Charles begged. "Just leave me alone! Please just leave me alone!"

"Enough of this." Charles gasped. His heart was beating at a pace faster than a Linoone could run. Giovanni had arrived. "Leave this waste of life to me." The boss growled.

The two grunts and their Pokemon backed away. Giovanni walked up to Charles as he cowered up against the wall. "Look me in the eyes." Charles slowly opened his eyes. Giovanni smiled. "I want you to watch what I'm gonna do to you." Giovanni growled. Charles broke down sobbing and fell to his knees.

"Don't kill me!" Charles cried, begging at his former boss' feet. "Please!"

"But I will." Giovanni said. "My daughter's more powerful than ever now, and all because you didn't obey my orders!" Charles suddenly stopped crying.

"No."

"What?" Giovanni growled.

"I… I did obey your orders."

 _But I'm not going to any more._

 _ **One year earlier…**_

Annie yawned and stretched as she woke up. It was a beautiful morning in the White Woods. The white bark of all the trees glistened in the sunlight. "All right!" Annie said, turning to the others. "Who wants breakfa-" Before Annie could finish, she got blasted backwards by a powerful Shadow Ball attack. She quickly got up and looked around for the Ghost Pokemon responsible. It could be that the Vampyro from last night was out for revenge. "Mimikyu, come on… Out?" Annie reached back behind herself, but her Pokeballs weren't on her belt. Where was Mimikyu?

"KYUUUUU!" Annie screamed as a long, shadowy claw scratched her face. She looked up to see that the Pokemon that was attacking her was really her Mimikyu.

"Mimikyu?" Annie said scaredly. She started backing up slowly. "W-what are you doing? Why are you attacking me?"

"K-k-k-kyu!" Mimikyu growled, lunging forward to attack with another Shadow Claw. Annie screamed and ran into the forest. What was going on? Mimikyu never attacked her. It was pretty much the only Pokemon that didn't. Why was it attacking her now? Annie didn't have time to dwell on these thoughts. Right now, all she could do was run.

Unfortunately, she soon found herself with no place left to run, as she had came to a cliff. Annie turned to run back the other direction, but Mimikyu was already there, its black claw raised to attack again.

"Eeeeteeee."

Annie screamed and wheeled around. Her Eetee was floating right behind her. "S-stay back!" Annie said desperately. "Please don't hurt me!"

"Eetee." Eetee raised its hand, and Annie cowered before it. But, when she looked at what Eetee was doing, she was surprised. Its finger was glowing. It was using Magic Touch. Annie's moment of wonder let Eetee do what it needed to do.

Touch her nose and wake her up.

 **…**

Annie screamed as she jolted awake. ""Wha- What's happening?" She looked around. It was the middle of the day in the White Woods, but her friends were all still asleep. And there was something weird about them. Each of their heads had a dark cloud of shadowy energy around them. "What is that?"

"Eetee." Annie screamed and jumped, but calmed down when she saw it was just Eetee.

"Eetee... What's going on? Did you just wake me up?"

"Eetee." Eetee said, nodding.

"And what's happening to my friends?" Annie asked.

"Eetee." The little Ultra Beast turned and pointed over at something sitting on a nearby rock.

It was a Pokemon. It kind of looked like a Munna, only it was dark purple with beady, yellow eyes and had black, poofy splotches shaped like dream clouds all over its body, and some of the splotches were glowing. Annie pulled out her Pokedex to see what it was.

"Munna Insmouan Forme," the Pokedex said, "a Ghost type. Munna has the ability to give anyone in the area around it vivid nightmares. It's said that sometimes these nightmares, while horrible, sometimes show the future."

Nightmares… So, that was why Mimikyu was attacking Annie. It was only a nightmare! Annie felt so relieved. But that feeling didn't last long, as she realized that her friends were still trapped in their own nightmares.

"Eetee." Annie looked down and saw that Eetee was digging through her bag. It pulled out a Pokeball. "Eetee." It said, offering the ball to Annie.

"You're saying… I should capture it?" Annie asked the little Ultra Beast.

"Eetee!" Eetee said happily.

Annie accepted the Pokeball. "Pokeball, go!" She yelled as she tossed the ball at the Munna. Fortunately, as the Munna was distracted with creating Annie's friends' dream sequences, the capture was fairly easy. The ball wobbled once, twice, three times… Ding! Annie had captured an Insmouan Munna!

As soon as the ball confirmed capture, everyone else started waking up. "Uggghh… What time is it?" Ace groaned. "Did we sleep in?"

"Yeah." Annie said, walking back over to everyone. "It was all because of a Pokemon. It was apparently giving you all nightmares. But I caught it, so it shouldn't be a problem any more!"

"Phew. That's good." Cammie said. "Now, come on! Let's get packed up and keep moving! We've still got to make it out of these woods!"

Once everyone was all packed up, the four trainers and Team Rocket all got back on their way towards Harborstone City. "So, what did you all dream about?" Annie asked her friends.

"I dreamt I was at war with the Ultra Beasts." Ace said. "It was super weird, but also kind of cool!"

"I dreamt that I gave up on all my dreams." Chris replied.

At the back of the group, Charles leaned in to say something to Lucy. "Let's both agree not to talk about what we dreamed about, okay?" He said.

"Deal." Lucy said, still dazed from what she had seen in her dream.

"What about you, Cammie?" Annie asked. "What did you dream about?"

"Oh, you know." Cammie said. "I was performing at the Grand Festival without any clothes on. Typical nightmare stuff." The others laughed at Cammie's nightmare, but Cammie stayed silent, still shaken from what she had really dreamed about.

 _ **Five years earlier…**_

Cammie stood in a strange world in front of a giant crystal tower. No, not a tower. It was a prison. A prison holding a gigantic, terrifying beast.

 _Come forward._

Cammie heard that scary voice in her head same as she did every night. "No… Please…" She whimpered.

 _I said come forward!_

Cammie suddenly felt herself getting telekinetically pulled towards the crystal prison. "No!" She screamed desperately. "I don't wanna! I don't wanna!"

 _With your help, I shall be released!_

"No! I won't release you! I won't release you!"

Cammie screamed as she bolted awake, still shivering from that nightmare. Her father ran into her room and turned on the lights. "Cammie! Sweetie, are you okay?"

Cammie's father came over and held her close as she cried into his shoulder. "I had… Another bad dream!" Cammie said in between sobs. "It was… Terrible!"

"Hey, don't worry, Love Bug." Her father soothed her. "It was just a dream." Cammie's father thought for a moment. Maybe now was a good time to give his daughter that present. "Wait right here, Love Bug." He said, getting up. "I'll only be gone a second." Cammie sat there in her bed, sniffling and still crying a little bit until her father came in with a Pokemon egg covered in pink hand-shaped splotches. "Your mom's Mr. Mime just laid this egg a week ago." Cammie's father said, handing her the egg. She held it close in her arms. It felt warm, and almost alive already. "We wanted you to be the one to raise it."

Cammie looked up at her father. The look of joy on her face practically melted his heart. "Oh, daddy, thank you!" Cammie squealed, hugging her dad again.

"Take good care of that Pokemon, Love Bug." Her father said as he hugged his daughter. "I'm sure it'll keep those nightmares away."

And it did. For five years, Cammie found herself unburdened from the recurring nightmares that plagued her since as far back as she could remember. However, because of that Munna last night, she had that same dream again. For the first time in five years, Cammie felt truly afraid. Those dreams were starting to return, but the real nightmare had yet to begin.


	14. Chapter 14

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey, everybody! Fakemon Master KC here! I was wondering if anyone would be interested in participating in a Pokemon roleplay with me that would take place in one of the other regions I'm considering doing fics for. It would be a great opportunity for me to get some material to use in my fics, as well as give anyone who participates a free sneak peek into some of the Fakemon I'll be using in those regions. PM me if you're interested!_

 _ **Out of the Darkness**_

"IT'S FOUR O'CLOCK ALREADY?!"

It was a bright and sunny day in the White Woods of the Insmou region, and Ace had just made the mistake of telling Cammie what time it was. "Er, yeah." Ace said sheepishly. "Guess that Munna kinda made us all sleep in."

Cammie fell to her knees in misery. "Great!" She said sarcastically. "Just great! It's already 4:00 and we still don't even know where in these stupid woods we even are! We'll never make it to Harborstone City on time, I won't be able to join the Contest, I'll never win any ribbons, I won't even make it anywhere close to being able to compete in the Grand Festival, and I may as well quit my Pokemon Coordinator career now to save myself the humiliation!" Cammie laid down on the ground. The others could tell she was just being overdramatic, but she still managed to make them all feel guilty. "Go on. Leave me here to die." Cammie went on. "I'll be okay. I'll just become a hermit living in these stupid woods that we somehow can never get out of!"

"Cammie, come on. Get up." Chris helped her to her feet. "Look, we've hit a bump in the road. Yes, it stinks, but we can still get you to Harborstone City on time."

It was then that Ace had an idea. "That's it! Stink!" He exclaimed. "We can find our way out of the woods with the power of stink!"

"Excuse me?" Cammie asked.

Ace pulled out a Pokeball. "Weasea, come on out!" He threw the ball up in the air and his Weasea popped out.

"Weasea!" It said excitedly.

"Okay, Weasea," Ace said, "I need you to use your nose to find a way out of the White Woods. Can you do that, buddy?"

"Weasea!" Weasea said, nodding its head. It got down close to the ground and began sniffing around until it finally picked up a scent. "Weasea Weas!" It said, running off in that direction. The others all took off after it.

"See, Cammie?" Ace said. "We can still get you to Harborstone on time after all!"

Weasea suddenly came to a stop. "Weasea Weas!" It squealed happily. The others all wondered why the little weasel Pokemon had stopped, but then Ace saw something ahead that made him shiver all over with fright.

"Oh, no…" He whimpered. Weasea had lead them to a giant hive. A hive that Ace recognized to be the home of a swarm of Soldioneys, only this one was much bigger than the one Weasea had led him to before.

"What is that?" Annie asked.

"Something that'll only get us hurt." Ace said. "Go. Everybody, run now!"

"Oney Oney Oney Oney!" Ace jumped when he heard the buzzing sound of all the Soldioney in the hive.

"It's too late!" He screamed. "Everybody hide!" Ace got down and cowered on the ground, but the others didn't move.

"Get up, you idiot." Lucy said. "Those Pokemon aren't hurting us. They're hurting their hive."

Ace opened his eyes to see that the Soldioneys weren't swarming him like last time. Instead it appeared that they were all devouring their own hive. From the nearly-completely devoured hive, a Monambarch flew up along with several very tiny, very adorable bee Pokemon. "What are those little ones?" Ace asked. He checked his Pokedex for info.

"Babee," the Pokedex said, "the Miniature Bee Pokemon. A Bug type. Every year, after the eggs laid by the Monambarch queen hatch into these Pokemon, the Babees lead the rest of the hive on a journey to find a new location to build their next home. Citizens of nearby towns gather around to watch the yearly migration of nearby colonies of these bee Pokemon."

"Wait! That's it!" Annie said. "Maybe we can use these Pokemon to find our way out of the woods!"

"But how can we make sure that they'll even lead us in the right direction?" Cammie asked.

"Maybe we just have to convince them with our Pokemon." Chris suggested. "If our Pokemon talk to them, maybe they can ask if they can lead us towards Harborstone City."

"It's worth a shot." Cammie said. "Mimey, Sparkoon, come out now!"

"Mimikyu, Eetee, I choose you!"

"Eevee and Pinecupine, let's go!"

"Go Aerodactyl and Woodcheek!"

The four trainers sent out all their Pokemon. The Pokemon then went over to start trying to talk to the Babees. "This is so stupid!" Charles said. "It's never going to work! The only way to convince other Pokemon to do what you want is to battle them! Magneton, go! Use Thundershock!"

"Charles, no!" Ace yelled, desperate not to get stung some more. But it was too late. Magneton came out of its ball and fired a bolt of electricity at the bee Pokemon, zapping all of them and making them all very angry.

"Bee Bee Bee Bee!"

"Soldioney Oney Oney Oney!"

"In retrospect, maybe that wasn't the best idea." Charles admitted, seeing how the whole group was outnumbered by about ten to one.

"Well, if we're gonna battle them, then we may as well get it over with!" Chris said. "Aerodactyl, use Flamethrower!"

Aerodactyl shot a plume of flames from its mouth, engulfing the bee Pokemon and incapacitating most of them in one shot.

"Soldioney!" One of the still-standing Soldioneys flew up at Aerodactyl to try and hit it with Fell Stinger.

"Aerodactyl, use Rock Tomb to knock it away!"

"Daaaaactyyyyl!"Aerodactyl shot a series of large rocks at the incoming Soldioney, hitting it and knocking it to the ground. Several more Soldioney were still standing though, and were ready to attack.

"Monambarch!" The Soldioney all stopped. They turned to face their Monambarach queen. "Monam Monambarch." The queen bee Pokemon flew down to the trainers. "Monambarch." It said peacefully.

"Wait… Are you saying you'll lead us to Harborstone City?" Chris asked.

"Ambarch." The Monambarch said, nodding its head. It turned to its followers. "Monambarch!" It commanded, and the swarm all lifted up into the sky and began flying away.

"Quick! Follow them!" Cammie exclaimed. The group all began running after the bees, following them through the woods, over a winding river, through dense clusters of trees, until finally they could see a clearing.

"Holy Miltank! We did it!" Ace exclaimed. The group had made it out of the White Woods, and, just over the horizon, they could all make out a town.

"I can see Harborstone City!" Cammie exclaimed happily. "We finally made it!"

"I can't believe your plan to battle them actually worked." Lucy said, clapping her partner on the back.

"Hey, I still have good ideas sometimes!" Charles retorted.

The Monambarch flew back down to the group of trainers. "Monambarch." It said.

"Thank you so much for helping us!" Cammie said happily. "I don't know how we can thank you!"

"Monambarch." The queen bee Pokemon said happily. It then flew over to Chris. "Monam." It said. It turned back up to face its followers and beckoned one of its Babees down towards it. "Monam." The Monambarch said.

"Babee!" The little bee Pokemon said, flying over and nuzzling Chris' face.

"Wait. Are you saying you want me to keep this Babee?" Chris asked. "Just because I beat your hive in a battle?"

"Monambarch." The queen bee Pokemon said, nodding its head.

"Well, go on, Chris!" Annie said. "Catch it!"

"Yeah! You earned it, buddy!" Ace said.

"Now, hold on just one second!" Charles yelled grumpily. " _I_ was the one who said we should have battled them! Why do _you_ get the free Pokemon?"

"Uh, because I was the one who actually won the battle for us." Chris said simply. "All you did was make them all angry."

"Well, if you want to keep that little Pokemon, you'll have to battle me for it!" Charles declared.

Chris stepped forward, perfectly ready to fight Charles, but the Monambarch had other plans. "Monam! Monambarch!" It called up to the rest of its hive. All of its Soldioneys flew down, buzzing angrily, ready to attack Charles.

"Oh, crap! Run!" Charles grabbed Lucy's hand and ran with her off back into the White Woods.

"Not back into the woods, you idiot!" Lucy yelled as her partner pulled her along. "We just got out of there!" But Charles didn't hear her. He was just focusing on not getting attacked by a swarm of bee Pokemon.

"Monambarch." The queen bee Pokemon said to Chris as its Soldioneys kept chasing Team Rocket. Its Babee follower nuzzled Chris' face again.

"Babee!" It said happily.

"All right." Chris said. "Here we go then. Pokeball, go!" The Babee flew up and Chris hit it with a Pokeball. It wobbled once, twice, three time… Ding! The Babee had been caught!

"All right! Congratulations, Chris!" Annie said.

"Congratulate him later!" Cammie said. "We've only got a few more minutes to sign me up for the Contest! Come on! Move! Move! Move!"

As Cammie shoved her friends towards Harborstone City, she began mentally prepping herself for her first Contest in the Insmou region. Will she be able to win her first ribbon here? We'll find out as the journey continues.


	15. Chapter 15

_**And Into The Light**_

"Okay, you're all set. Here's your Contest Pass to compete in the Insmou region. Um… Are you sure you're okay? Can I get you a glass of water?"

It was 4:59 in Harborstone City, and Cammie had just barely made it in time to sign up for the Pokemon Contest taking place the next day. Unfortunately, in order to actually be on time, she had had to run all the way from the edge of the nearby White Woods straight to the Contest Hall in the middle of the city. Naturally, she had worked up quite a sweat and was looking extremely worn out.

"Nope. I'm good." Cammie panted. "Hey, have you always had purple skin?"

"Er… Yes, I think you need some water." The attendant said, going to fetch Cammie a glass.

After a few minutes of resting and revitalizing, Cammie walked out of the Contest Hall with a ton of confidence. Her friends were all outside waiting for her. "So, did you get it?" Chris asked.

Cammie proudly held up her new Insmou Contest Pass. "Naturally." She said. "I can't wait until I compete tomorrow! I just know I'm gonna win!"

"I wouldn't get too overconfident." Annie said. "I mean, there are probably going to be a ton of talented coordinators competing with you, and they'll probably be using Pokemon you've never encountered before too. It might be best to go into this Contest with a bit more caution."

"Caution, shmaution." Cammie said, waving Annie's comment away. "Sparkoon and I have got this in the bag! Now, come on! We've gotta get to the Pokemon Center so we can practice!"

At the Pokemon Center, several other Pokemon Coordinators were already practicing hard, trying to hone their techniques for the competition. Cammie looked around. She saw a boy with a white rabbit-looking Pokemon creating sculptures out of ice with Ice Beam, a girl who had a Pokemon that resembled a Gumshoos only with shiny, silver fur that sparkled in the sunlight using Dazzling Gleam to put on a light show, as well as someone who looked very familiar practicing with another Sparkoon. That blonde hair, those strong arms… Something about him made Cammie absolutely certain she had seen him before.

"Wait… Is that…?" Cammie suddenly squealed at a pitch so high, a group of Houndour in the yard three buildings down started barking. Cammie rushed over to the boy with the Sparkoon and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Huh? Oh, hi." The boy said politely. "My name's Ty. And you are?"

Cammie took the boy's hand and got down on one knee. "My name's Cammie, but let's forget about names for a second!" She said passionately. "I remember who you are, and I hope you remember me too! It's destiny that we're here together! Tell me you feel the same way!"

"Uh… Sorry. I don't recognize you." That little comment shattered Cammie's passionate demeanor.

"But you have to remember me!" Cammie said. "We met on the SS Anne."

The boy shook his head. "Sorry. Doesn't ring a bell." He said. Cammie groaned. "Sorry." Ty said politely. "I can be a little forgetful sometimes. Are you competing in the Pokemon Contest too?"

Cammie stood up, having given up on trying to get this boy to remember her, but smiled anyway. "Yep!" She said. "I'm entering with my Sparkoon."

"Wow! Another Sparkoon user, huh?" Ty said. "I wonder which one of us will come out on top."

"Oh, I already know." Cammie said. "Not to brag, but I've been a Pokemon Coordinator for five years now, so I think I have the advantage here."

Ty grinned. Despite Cammie's clear attraction to the boy, a rivalry was beginning to form. "Well, we'll see, won't we?" He said. "Best of luck to you." And with that, Ty walked away to continue training. Cammie smiled as she watched him go.

"Yeah." She said. "We _will_ see."

 **…**

The morning of the Harborstone City Pokemon Contest, Cammie came into the lobby of the Pokemon Center looking like an image of pure death. "Yeesh!" Chris exclaimed. "What happened to you?"

"Couldn't sleep." Cammie mumbled. "So tired. Neeeed coffee." Cammie went over to the cafe area of the Pokemon Center and ordered the biggest cup of coffee they offered. Meanwhile, her friends chatted at the table they were all sitting at.

"I wonder why Cammie couldn't sleep last night." Ace said.

"It's probably nerves." Annie replied. "Seeing all those other talented Coordinators training yesterday must have gotten to her."

"That doesn't sound like Cammie, though." Chris said, concerned for his friend.

Fortunately, that gigantic mug of joe seemed to wake Cammie up just in time for the Contest. In just a few hours after breakfast, Ace, Chris, and Annie were all sitting in the stands of the Contest Hall, ready to cheer Cammie on. Cammie waited backstage as the Contest MC, Jillian Meridian, younger sister of Marian, Vivian, and Lilian Meridian, came forth to great the crowd. "Hello, Harborstone City!" She said cheerfully. "We've got a wonderful show for you all today featuring several talented coordinators! Let me begin by introducing our three judges. First, from the Pokemon Contest organizing committee, Mr. Contesta!"

"I'm looking forward to seeing these Coordinators and their Pokemon!" Mr. Contesta said enthusiastically.

"Second, the president of the Pokemon Fan Club, Mr. Sukizo!"

"Remarkable to be here." Mr. Sukizo commented.

"And finally, we have Harborstone City's own Nurse Joy!"

"I wish all of our Coordinators the best of luck!" Nurse Joy said happily.

"And now, let's get things started!" Jillian went on. "Introducing our first contestant: Barry!"

The boy Cammie had seen training with the white rabbit Pokemon came onstage. "Bunnice, take the stage!" He said, throwing out his Pokeball. The same white rabbit Cammie had seen before appeared.

"Bunnice, huh?" Cammie said, checking her Pokedex for information.

"Bunnice," the Pokedex said, "the Snow Hare Pokemon. An Ice type. This Pokemon loves frolicking in the snowy mountains of the Insmou region. Its pure white fur coat allows it to blend in perfectly with its surroundings in that environment."

Barry and his Bunnice earned a solid 28.6 points from the judges with their Ice Beam ice sculpture routine. The next contestant only earned 15.3 points, though, as their Exploud performed a singing routine that wound up causing Mr. Contesta to lose his hearing for the next few contestants from how unbearably loud it was. Cammie watched backstage with her Sparkoon and Mimey, waiting patiently for her turn to show off her skills.

"Mime Mime Mime." Mimey grumbled.

"Mimey, you shouldn't feel jealous just because Sparkoon's competing instead of you." Cammie said comfortingly to her trusted Pokemon partner. "Trust me. You'll get a turn to compete next time, okay?"

That statement seemed to satisfy Mimey. Finally, it was Cammie's turn to take the stage. "Okay! Ready, Sparkoon?" Cammie asked with the frisbees for their act in her hands.

"Koon Koon!" Sparkoon responded confidently.

"All right! Then use Fire Spin!" Cammie threw the frisbees and Sparkoon whipped its tail in a circle, creating a tornado of fire that lifted the frisbees swirling around into the air. The crowd oohed and awed at the sight of the spectacle. "Okay! Now use Ember!"

"Koon! Koon! Koon!" Sparkoon said as it fired three bursts of fire, shattering each of the frisbees into nothing more than showers of sparkly plastic. The crowd applauded, but no one was clapping harder than Cammie's friends.

"Let's see what our judges have to say!" Jillian said.

"A wonderful use of Fire Spin." Mr. Contesta commented. "And the finale of the act was spectacular as well!"

"I say it was truly remarkable!" Mr. Sukizo said.

"It was certainly entertaining to watch!" Nurse Joy added.

The judges each entered their scores. The final total for Cammie was a 29.2. "Yes!" Cammie cheered as she headed backstage. A score that high pretty much guaranteed a spot in the battle round of the contest.

"You were great out there, Cammie." Cammie turned to see her crush, Ty, congratulating her.

"Oh. Thank you!" She replied, her face as red as a Darmanitan.

"I'm up next." Ty said. "Wish me luck." Ty went out onstage with his own Sparkoon. "Okay, Sparkoon, let's do this!" Ty pulled something out of his back pocket.

"Uh, is that a firecracker?" Chris asked nervously. He got the answer soon enough, as Ty tossed the firecracker in the air.

"Sparkoon, use Ember!" Sparkoon shot a fire burst at the firecracker, causing it to explode and frighten the judges and everyone else in the audience too. However, the fright soon waned away and turned to awe when they saw the glittering cascade of sparks that rained down on the stage from the exploded firecracker. "Again!" Ty commanded, throwing firecracker after firecracker into the air. Sparkoon hit each one with perfect accuracy, creating an almost never-ending shower of sparks to rain upon the stage.

"Wow! That certainly was an interesting approach." Mr. Contesta commented when Ty was done.

"Remarkable!" Mr. Sukizo added. "Truly, truly remarkable!"

"It was a little scary at first, but I still liked it." Nurse Joy said. The judges added up their scores, giving Ty a 25.8 total. Ty walked backstage looking a little bummed that he didn't score as high as some of the other competitors.

"Man, I really thought that firecracker trick would work." Ty said, sitting down next to Cammie. "I showed it to my brother and he thought it was amazing."

"How old is your brother?" Cammie asked him.

"Eight. Why?"

"Well, certain things are more entertaining to younger people." Cammie said. "Coordinators have to make sure their routines appeal to all ages. Don't worry, though. 25.8 is a pretty good score. I'm sure you'll make it to the battle round."

Ty smiled. "Thanks, Cammie." He said. "You're really nice." That compliment absolutely melted Cammie's heart.

"The results are in!" Jillian announced back onstage. "These are the eight trainers who will be moving on to the battle round!" Images of eight of the contestants flashed on the big screen above the stage. Cammie was among them, as was that boy, Barry, who had the Bunnice. Ty let out a loud whoop when he saw that he was one of the eight finalists as well.

"Looks like I'm in the first battle." Cammie said, looking at the match pairings. It was her versus Barry in the first round.

"And I'm up last." Ty said. "I guess I'll watch you battle and try and learn something from you before I'm up."

Cammie grinned and went out to face her opponent. "All right, trainers!" Jillian said. "Here's how the battle round works: each of you will have five minutes to either reduce your opponents appeal points to zero or to render their Pokemon unable to battle. Ready?" Cammie and Barry both nodded. "Battle begin!" The timer started counting down. Barry was the one to make the first move.

"Bunnice, use Powder Snow!" He commanded. His little, white rabbit Pokemon blew a gust of snow towards Cammie's Sparkoon, but Cammie was ready.

"Sparkoon, counter with Fire Spin!" Sparkoon whipped its tail around, creating a fiery tornado that blew apart Bunnice's Powder Snow attack and hit the poor Ice Pokemon directly. Barry's appeal points took a huge hit after that attack. "Now, follow up with Scratch!" Sparkoon lunged towards Bunnice and slashed at it with its claws.

"Bunnice! No!" Barry growled. "Use Quick Attack!"

Bunnice rushed towards Sparkoon, but Cammie already had a counter in mind. "Can't attack if your Pokemon can't get to me!" She said. "Sparkoon, use Fire Spin to surround yourself with fire!" Sparkoon got down close to the ground and summoned up another fiery tornado, this time generating the attack around it. Bunnice was moving too fast to stop and got burnt by the counterattack in the process, dropping Barry's appeal points even further down. "Now, finish him off with Ember!" Since Bunnice was too close to dodge, it got hit by the super effective Ember attack and was knocked unconscious.

"Bunnice is unable to battle!" Jillian announced. "Which means Cammie will be moving on!"

Cammie went backstage and watched the next two battles. One was of a Pachirisu battling a Gurdurr, and the next was of a Cloyster battling a Ninjask. Finally, Ty was up. His opponent was a girl who was using a Pumpkaboo. Since his Sparkoon had the type advantage, Ty easily won that challenge.

Next, Cammie had to battle the trainer with the Gurdurr. It was tough, given that her opponent's Pokemon was of a higher level than her Sparkoon, but Cammie managed to come out on top by dropping the Gurdurr's appeal points to zero. Ty won his next battle too against the trainer with the Cloyster. At last, it was Ty and Cammie facing each other in the final round.

"We're down to our final two Coordinators!" Jillian announced. "And what an exciting twist that they're both using the same Pokemon! Trainers ready?" Cammie and Ty both nodded. "Then battle begin!"

"Sparkoon, use Flamethrower!" Ty commanded. His Sparkoon let loose a gigantic blast of fire, which unfortunately sent it ungracefully flying back a few feet from the sheer force of the blast, costing Ty some appeal points.

"Sparkoon, use Fire Spin to lift yourself up in the air!" Cammie commanded. Her Sparkoon used its attack to blast off high in the sky, dodging the Flamethrower. "Now Ember!" Cammie's Sparkoon shot a burst of flames that hit Ty's Sparkoon right in the face for a critical hit. Ty's appeal points were now about half-drained, but he still remained confident.

"Sparkoon, use Smokescreen!" He commanded. His Sparkoon sent out a jet of inky, black smoke that covered the battlefield. Cammie couldn't tell where Ty's Pokemon was, nor where her own was in the dense smog.

"Use Fire Spin to blow away the smoke!" Cammie's Sparkoon used its fiery tornado to dissipate the smoke. However, this was exactly what Ty had been hoping for.

"Hit it with Flamethrower while its distracted!" Ty commanded. His own Sparkoon shot forth another big barrage of flames, hitting Cammie's Sparkoon and costing her a decent chunk of her appeal points.

"Okay, Sparkoon, now use- What the…?" Cammie stopped mid-sentence when she saw that Ty's Sparkoon was beginning to glow.

"Oh! It appears we have a surprise evolution, everybody!" Jillian announced. When the glowing stopped, Ty's Sparkoon's appearance had changed drastically. For starters, instead of a red and yellow color scheme, Sparkoon's evolved form had red and black fur, including a wicked-looking black mask that covered its eyes. The flame on the end of its tail had grown in size and brightness, and it was also somewhat larger. "Ladies and gentlemen, it appears that Ty's Sparkoon has now evolved into a Maskferno!" Jillian announced as the crowd cheered. "Let's get its Pokedex entry up on the screen!"

An image of Maskferno appeared on the screen above the stage. "Maskferno," a recorded voice boomed throughout the Contest Hall, "the Fire Brute Pokemon. A Fire and Dark type and the evolved form of Sparkoon. Maskferno can be easily identified by the black mask-like fur covering its eyes. This part of the Pokemon's face is extra-heated and that heat can be used in battle."

"A Fire and D-D-D-Dark type?" Cammie stammered.

"Uh-oh." Chris said in the stands.

"What's wrong?" Ace asked.

"Cammie's scared of Dark types." Chris replied.

"Remember how she acted when she saw Stephanie's Spiritomb?" Annie remarked. "I wonder how she'll handle this."

How Cammie handled it was apparently to completely freeze up. The roar of the crowd drowned out and all she could hear was the voice she had heard in the nightmares that had kept her up all night last night. The voice of that terrible Dark Pokemon in the crystal cage.

"N-n-no." Cammie whimpered. "No!" The crowd murmured as they saw Cammie freaking out onstage. Cammie fell to her knees, and Jillian called Nurse Joy over to help her. "No…" Was all Cammie could say as Nurse Joy examined her. "No…."

Nurse Joy whispered something to Jillian and Jillian stood back up to make an announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry to say that Cammie seems unable to complete this battle. Due to this reason, we must award victory and the coveted Harborstone Contest Ribbon to Ty."

There was scattered clapping from throughout the Contest Hall. Nobody, not even Ty, wanted to see the battle end like this.

Cammie left the Contest Hall after being examined more thoroughly by Nurse Joy. She walked back to the Pokemon Center with her friends and stayed silent the whole way there. "It's not your fault, Cam'." Chris said, trying to make her feel better. "You fought with all you had. If it wasn't for that evolution, you would've won." But hearing that didn't make Cammie feel better. When the four trainers arrived back at the Pokemon Center, they were surprised to see Ty there as well.

"Hey, Cammie." He said. Cammie's friends all went up to their rooms to give the two Coordinators some privacy. "Look, I'm really sorry about the way the Contest ended, so… Here." Cammie looked down to see that Ty was offering her the ribbon he had won from the Contest. "I would've lost for sure if it hadn't been for… Well, you know. You're the one who really deserves this ribbon."

That gesture actually made Cammie smile. "No." She said. "You should keep it."

"Are you sure?" Ty asked.

"Yeah." Cammie said. "It may not have been in the way I wanted it to go, but you still won that ribbon. Keep it. I'll just have to beat you in another Contest."

Ty and Cammie both smiled. They shook hands. "Well then," Ty said, "to the next Contest."

"To the next Contest." Cammie agreed. Ty left the Pokemon Center to keep travelling, but Cammie went up to her room in the Center to catch some much needed sleep. And she prayed to Arceus, Dialga, Palkia, and every other Legendary Pokemon out there that this night she would actually be able to sleep without more dreams of that horrible Dark Pokemon.

But, in the end, those prayers were all for naught.


	16. Chapter 16

_**For The Trees**_

"All right! Hollyhills City, here we come! Cammie, come on! Pick up the pace!"

Cammie grumbled a series of curses under her breath as she followed her friends, shuffling along tiredly after another night of horrible nightmares. Ace, Chris, and even Annie were all fired up to get to the next Pokemon Gym in Hollyhills City, but all Cammie wanted to do was sleep, preferably without any dreams.

"Cammie, you okay?" Chris asked.

"I'm fine." Cammie lied. "I just… Didn't sleep too well last night."

Chris was concerned. That was the second night in a row that Cammie hadn't slept well. He wondered whether or not he should ask what was going on, but his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a stampede.

"What is that?!" Annie exclaimed as she looked a little farther down the road. A huge cloud of dust was being kicked up by something moving incredibly fast. Soon the dust cloud was close enough for the four trainers to see a veritable army of Pokemon running towards them. There were little squirrel-like Pokemon with bright green, bushy tails running in a way that made it look more like they were jumping across the path, several flying squirrel Pokemon soaring above them, along with some Pokemon that looked like Rattatas and Raticates, only the Rattatas were pale brown with little blades of grass on their face that looked like pencil mustaches, and the Raticates where colored dark brown, almost the color of oak tree bark, and had leaves on their faces that looked like handlebar mustaches.

"What are all those?" Ace wondered. Each of the trainers pulled out their Pokedexes to check the data on all these Pokemon.

"Squirreleap," Ace's Pokedex said about the jumping squirrels, "the Branch Hopping Pokemon. A Grass and Normal type. These Pokemon dream of one day being able to soar through the skies as Flying Pokemon, and, in order to practice at flying, they hone their agility by leaping great distances from branch to branch in the treetops."

"Leafly," Chris' Pokedex said about the flying squirrels, "the Flying Squirrel Pokemon. A Grass and Flying type and the evolved form of Squirreleap. Groups of Leafly have contests to see which one of them can glide the farthest distance. The longest recorded distance for how far one of them can glide without touching the ground is over 100 yards."

"Rattata Insmouan Forme." Cammie's Pokedex said about the mustachioed Rattata. "A Normal and Grass type. Rattata were introduced to Insmou by stowing away on ships taking colonists to the region. These Pokemon are vegetarians and can be identified by the mustache-like grass blades that adorn their faces."

"Raticate Insmouan Forme." Annie's Pokedex said about the Raticates. "A Normal and Grass type and the evolved form of Rattata. These Pokemon are often kept by rich socialites due to the appeal of their large, leafy mustaches. They will only eat the rarest of berries and herbs, and refuse to be treated like common rat Pokemon."

"Wow! All new Insmouan Pokemon! Awesome!" Ace exclaimed.

"Uh, guys, don't you think we should have moved out of the way before checking their data?" Annie asked, as the horde of Grass Pokemon was getting closer by the second.

The four trainers screamed as they cowered before the stampede that was about to trample them. Fortunately, they were saved by a woman with sea green hair wearing a police uniform jumping her motorcycle in between the trainers and the wild Pokemon. The Pokemon immediately came to a halt. "Attention, wild Pokemon!" Officer Jenny said into her megaphone. "Please move off the road and create a safe path for trainers to travel down!" The horde of Grass Pokemon politely obeyed Officer Jenny's orders and moved off the path.

"Whoa! Thanks, Officer Jenny!" Ace said.

"It's my pleasure, kid." Officer Jenny said with a smile. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to figure out why these Pokemon were stampeding." Officer Jenny got off her motorcycle and went over to the wild Pokemon.

"How exactly are you planning on finding that out?" Chris asked, confused.

"By asking them, of course." Officer Jenny replied, as if that were a logical answer.

"You speak Pokemon?" Annie asked.

"No. But my partner does." Officer Jenny pulled out a Pokeball. "Chatot, come on out!" Officer Jenny threw her Pokeball up in the air, and from it appeared a Chatot that landed on her shoulder. The four trainers watched with amazement as Officer Jenny told her Chatot what questions to ask the Pokemon, followed by her Chatot relaying their answers back to its trainer with Chatter. "Just as I thought." Officer Jenny said as she finished her questioning. "It's Chopper."

"Who's Chopper?" Ace asked.

"He's the boss of an illegal logging business here in Insmou." Officer Jenny explained. "I've been tracking his operations for months, but haven't been able to catch him."

"Just how bad of a guy is he?" Annie asked.

Officer Jenny cracked a sad smile. "Look around." She said, gesturing to the fields around them. "This all used to be forest. Now, thanks to Chopper, the once-beautiful trees are all gone. What's worse is he forces all the wild Pokemon living in the woods he targets out of their homes. Which is probably what happened to these poor souls."

"What?!" Ace, Annie, and Cammie all turned to look at Chris. He looked angrier than they had ever seen him. "So, he just forces wild Pokemon out of their homes so he can make a quick buck?!" Chris exclaimed. "That monster! We've gotta stop him!"

"Well, according to these Pokemon, Chopper's still at work just a little ways down the road." Officer Jenny said. "I'd better get over there to stop him." Officer Jenny went to get back on her motorcycle, but Chris stood in her path.

"Wait!" He said. "Officer Jenny, let us help you." Officer Jenny raised an eyebrow. "My dad raised me to love all Pokemon," Chris went on, "and if there's some guy out there who's hurting them for no good reason, then I have to stop him. Please."

Officer Jenny smiled. She had seen a lot of brave trainers in her years as a police officer, and this kid was definitely one of the bravest. "All right." She said. "You four can help. But you follow my orders and don't put yourselves in any unnecessary danger. Got it?" The four trainers all nodded. "Good. Then let's go!" Officer Jenny sped off on her motorcycle, leaving the four trainers with just one question.

"How are we supposed to keep up with her?"

 **…**

"Prepare for chopping…"

"Now, let's get hopping!"

"To protect the land from too many trees…"

"To earn some money to pay our fees…"

"To make the whole forest go away…"

"For a little quick cash. A little mon-ay!"

"We'll chop down trees and put dough in our pockets!"

"And all that dough will go to Team Rocket!"

"Man, am I glad we landed this job!" Charles said as he and Lucy were cutting down a tree with a two-person saw.

"Speak for yourself." Lucy grumbled. "We've been sawing away for hours and this stupid tree isn't even close to falling!" Lucy gave an angry shout and pulled out a Pokeball. "Nidorina, knock it down with Double Kick!" Lucy's Nidorina burst out of the ball and hit the tree twice with its feet, easily felling it.

"Hey! Watch it, you two!" A man with a big, red beard wearing overalls over a flannel shirt came storming over to the two Team Rocket members. He looked angrier than a Tauros that just got its tail pulled. "I don't wanna see any dents in those logs!" He ordered. "So, put away your stupid Pokemon, pick up that saw, and get over to the next tree!"

"Yes, Mr. Chopper, sir!" Charles said, quite terrified of the man. Lucy said nothing. Nobody calls her Nidorina stupid. "Come on, Luce'. Let it go." Charles said as he and Lucy started sawing through the next tree. "We gotta keep this job if we want some fast cash."

Lucy sighed. "I guess you're right." She said. "And at least, while we're working here, there's no chance of us getting blasted off."

Lucy really needed to learn to believe in jinxes. "Chatot, use Hyper Voice!" An enormous blast of sound came flying towards Charles and Lucy, creating an explosion and sending them soaring through the sky.

"You shouldn't have said-"

"I know!" Lucy shouted at her partner as they flew through the air. "I know I shouldn't have said that!"

" _We're blasting off again!_ "

As Team Rocket disappeared into the sky, the other people all working for Chopper immediately stopped their activities. "Cheez it! It's the cops!" One of them shouted. Everyone started running in every direction. Fortunately, Officer Jenny and the four trainers had already come up with a plan to catch them all.

"Babee, go! Use String Shot!" Chris threw out his newest Pokemon, a little bee named Babee, which fired a rope of sticky webbing to tie up the nearest groups of loggers.

"Mimikyu, round up the others with Play Rough!"

"Mimey, use Confusion to pull everyone back!"

"Eevee, use Swift to knock some of them out!"

The combination of attacks from the four trainers allowed them to round up almost every criminal in the area.

 _Almost._

"Chopper's getting away!" Officer Jenny shouted, pointing at Chopper trying to make a break for it.

"I got him!" Chris said, running after Chopper. He chased him through the forest, or what was left of it anyway, and finally cornered him in an extremely dense circle of trees. "It's over, Chopper!" Chris declared. "Your days of ruining Pokemons' homes are through!"

Chopper turned around, chuckling wickedly. "And who's gonna make sure of that?" He asked. "You? Please. You're just a kid." Chopper pulled out a Pokeball. "A kid who's about to get crushed by my Pokemon! Chopchuck, come on out!"

Chopper threw his Pokeball up in the air, and from it appeared a Pokemon Chris had never seen before. It greatly resembled his Woodcheek, but it was much bigger; about the size of a human. And its teeth were made up of metal and all looked extremely sharp. "Chopchuuuuuck!" The Pokemon roared defiantly.

"Chopchuck, huh?" Chris pulled out his Pokedex to get the data on this Pokemon.

"Chopchuck," the Pokedex said, "the Timber Pokemon. A Grass and Steel type and the evolved form of Barkrunch and Woodcheek. This Pokemon is a favorite of lumberjacks, as its metallic teeth can cut through any tree like it was nothing."

"So, this is Woodcheek's final evolved form…" Chris realized. A determined expression was now on his face. "Well, Chopper, let's see how your Chopchuck stands up to my Aero-"

Before Chris could call out his ace Pokemon, Aerodactyl, one of the balls on his belt opened on its own. "Woodcheek Wood!" Woodcheek said, having just escaped its Pokeball.

"Woodcheek?" Chris said, a little stunned. "You wanna battle this guy?"

Woodcheek turned to Chris and nodded. "Cheek." It said confidently. Chris grinned.

"All right then! Woodcheek, use Bullet Seed!" Woodcheek fired a barrage of seeds at Chopper's Chopchuck, but unfortunately Chopper had a counter strategy.

"Chopchuck, Iron Defense!" Chopchuck glowed bright silver as its defense increased, causing Chris' Bullet Seed to be rather ineffective. "Now use Chop Jaws!" Chopchuck lunged forward. It opened its mouth wide and its metallic teeth glowed bright green as it brought them down hard on Woodcheek.

"Cheeeeeeek!" Woodchuck cried out as it got crushed in Chopchuck's jaws.

"Woocheek!" Chris yelled, desperate to save his poor Pokemon.

Chopper just laughed. "Pathetic." He said. "Your Pokemon's just plain weak." Chopper turned to his Chopchuck. "Throw him! Make the boy chase after that runt!" Chopchuck whipped its head around, throwing Woodcheek a great distance. As Chris went chasing after him, Chopper made his getaway.

"Woodcheek! Are you okay?" Chris asked when he reached his barely conscious Pokemon. "Come on, buddy. Say something."

"Ch-ch-cheek…" Woodcheek said weakly.

"Guys! Over here! I need help!" Chris called out to the others. His friends and Officer Jenny all came running over to him.

"What happened?" Annie asked.

"We had Chopper cornered," Chris explained, "he challenged me to a battle, but, before I could send out Aerodactyl, Woodcheek came out instead." Chris turned his attention back to his battered Pokemon. "Woodcheek, why would you do that?"

"Woodcheek Wood…" Woodcheek said weakly.

"We can figure out why he came out later." Cammie said. "Right now, we'd better get him to a Pokemon Center."

Chris picked up his Pokemon, but, before anyone could start heading towards the nearest Pokemon Center, someone else piped up.

"To prove I was strong."

Everyone's eyes turned to Officer Jenny's Chatot, which was currently perched on her shoulder. "What did he just say?" Chris asked.

"I think he must have just translated what your Woodcheek said." Officer Jenny deduced.

Chris turned back to Woodcheek. "Why did you want to prove you were strong?" He asked it.

"Woodcheek Wood Woodcheek." Woodcheek said.

"You're a powerful trainer." Chatot translated. "I wanted to prove I could be strong like you and Aerodactyl."

"Woodcheek Cheek Wood."

"I want to get stronger. I want to be the Pokemon you deserve."

Chris was almost starting to tear up. "Aw, Woodcheek…" He said. "You're already a great Pokemon. You don't need to prove anything to me." Chris got up with Woodcheek in his arms. "Let's get you to the Pokemon Center."

The four trainers and Officer Jenny all rushed to the nearest Pokemon Center, which thankfully wasn't too far away. Woodcheek was healed quickly and sat with Chris and the others while Officer Jenny talked on her police radio to try and get an idea on where Chopper might be now. "I need to battle Chopper again." Chris said to his friends. "Woodcheek and I need to take him down."

"But, Chris, if Woodcheek goes up against Chopper again, he'll just get even more hurt." Cammie reasoned.

Chris thought about this for a few moments. "I just need some way to do some quick training." He said. "If Woodcheek and I can train enough, we might be able to actually beat him."

"But how are you going to fit in that much training before Chopper gets away once and for all?" Ace asked.

Before Chris could think of an answer, Officer Jenny walked over to the kids. "I just got a tip about Chopper's possible location." She explained. "Apparently, he has a cabin near here. I can get a team together and take him down. You kids still wanna help?"

"Yes." Chris said. "But I want to battle him first. Woodcheek and I want to be the ones to beat him. Please, Officer Jenny?"

"I don't know, kid." The officer replied. "I think you're fighting a losing battle here. If there was some way for you to level that little Pokemon up quick first, then maybe-"

Officer Jenny was interrupted by a loud commotion outside the Center. She and the four trainers all walked out the doors to find the large group of Grass Pokemon Chopper had forced out of their homes before all standing outside the Pokemon Center. They were all chattering animatedly.

"Wanna help! Wanna help!" Officer Jenny's Chatot translated.

"They want to help?" Cammie asked.

"These Pokemon were forced out of their homes by Chopper." Officer Jenny said. "It makes sense that they'd want to help us defeat him."

Chris looked at the wild Pokemon, then he looked at Woodcheek. The two of them seemed to have the same idea. "I know a way they can help." He said.

 **…**

Chopper lounged in his cabin sipping a mug of hot chocolate. "Heh heh. Stupid cops." He said. "Those mooks'll never catch me."

Like Lucy, Chopper really needed to learn to believe in jinxes, because, right at that moment, there was a knock at his door. Chopper warily set down his mug of cocoa and called out his Chopchuck. He inched towards the door and threw it open to find none other than Chris. "Relax." Chris said seriously. "I came alone."

Chopper cracked a smile. "You're the kid I just destroyed in a battle." He said. "What, did you come back to get your butt handed to you again?"

"I came for a rematch, if that's what you're saying." Chris replied. "Here's the deal: if I win, you turn yourself in to Officer Jenny. You win, and you can walk out that door and go wherever you want to try and hide again."

Chopper's grin widened. "Kid, you're just handing me my freedom on a platter, you know that?" He said cockily. "Your stupid little runt of a Pokemon can't stand up to my Chopchuck."

"Chopchuck Chop!" Chopchuck said confidently.

Now it was Chris' turn to grin. "Maybe not then," he said, "but my little 'runt' just got a whole lot bigger. Barkrunch, I choose you!"

Chris threw out a Pokeball, and from it appeared Woodcheek, though it looked significantly different. It had grown much bigger, and its teeth were much larger and sharper too. "Barkruuuunch!" It roared defiantly.

"Barkrunch," Chris' Pokedex said, "the Giant Jaws Pokemon. A Grass type and the evolved form of Woodcheek. This Pokemon's teeth are strong enough to snap a medium-sized tree in two in just one bite. If its skills are honed correctly, it can use its teeth to level almost an entire forest in a matter of hours."

Chopper raised an eyebrow. "So, you evolved the little runt." He said. "Doesn't matter! Chopchuck, attack! Use Chop Jaws!"

"Barkrunch, dodge it and use Leech Seed!" Chris commanded. Barkrunch jumped out of the way of Chopchuck's iron jaws and spat a small seed at it. The seed landed square on the back of Chopchuck's head and wrapped it in vines, siphoning off its energy and feeding it to Barkrunch.

"Errrrgh!" Chopper growled. "Chopchuck, hit him with Seed Bomb!"

"Chopchuck!" Chopchuck opened its mouth and fired several large, glowing seeds that exploded when they hit Barkrunch.

"Kruuuuunch!" The Grass Pokemon cried as it was bombarded by the seed attack.

"Hang in there, Barkrunch!" Chris called to it. "Use Mega Drain!"

Barkrunch lunged at Chopchuck and bit down hard on its arm, siphoning off even more of its energy to restore its own health.

"Shake him off and use Chop Jaws again!" Chopper commanded. Chop chuck waved its arm, throwing Brakrunch off of it, then lunged forward and bit down on it hard with glowing green jaws. "Now throw him and use Seed Bomb!" Chopchuck threw Barkrunch in the air and fired more glowing seeds at Barkrunch.

"Block it with Bullet Seed!" Chris commanded. Barkrunch fired a barrage of seeds at the ones heading towards it, detonating them before it could take the hit. Barkrunch landed safely, though it had sustained massive damage. "Hit him with another Mega Drain!"

"Not gonna happen!" Chopper countered. "Chopchuck, use Iron Defense!" Chopchuck glowed bright silver as Barkrunch bit down on its arm again, lessening the damage done to it. "Now use Seed Bomb!" Barkrunch was too close to dodge. Chopchuck fired more exploding seeds, sending Barkrunch flying and knocking it out.

"Barkrunch! No!" Chris cried out. Chopper just laughed.

"Nice try, kid." He said as he headed for the door. "Your Pokemon may have evolved, but it still can't stand up to me. See ya around." Chopper opened the door and was met with a surprise.

"Chatot, use Steel Wing!" Officer Jenny's Chatot flew down and slammed into Chopper, sending him flying back into his cabin and sprawling out on the floor. Chris stood over him with a smile.

"I didn't have to stand up to you." He said with a grin on his face. "I just had to stall you long enough for Officer Jenny to get in position."

Officer Jenny rushed in followed by Chris' friends. She forced Chopper to his feet and handcuffed him, placing him under arrest. "Thanks for all your help, kids." She said. "I'll be happy to give you a lift back to the Pokemon Center to heal your Barkrunch."

"Thanks, Officer Jenny." Chris said. He ran back over to his fallen Pokemon. "You did great, Barkrunch." He said. "You may not have beaten Chopper, but you definitely proved how strong you are."

"Krunch Barkrunch." Barkrunch said happily. Chris returned his Pokemon to its ball and walked out of Chopper's cabin with his friends so Officer Jenny could drive them all back to the Pokemon Center.

With a newly evolved Barkrunch, Chris' Pokemon team is stronger than ever! What new challenges will he and his new Pokemon be able to face together? We'll find out as the journey continues.


	17. Sad Announcement

_**Sad Announcement**_

Hey, y'all. KC here. So, here's the thing: when I started this fic out, I hadn't really planned that much in regards to plot. I had the Pokedex for the region and all the Gym Leaders, towns, landmarks, etc. all planned out, but I did not have any good character arc ideas or any idea on where this fic was going from the start. I was pretty much making it all up as I went.

It's for that reason why I want to put this fic to a temporary end. I do want to continue the adventures of Ace, Cammie, Chris, and Annie and their Pokemon, but, when I do that, I want to have an idea of where I'm going for it before I write it. So, for now anyways, this is the end of Pokemon Rainbow. I promise to think carefully about where I want the plot to go for the characters, and I will then begin this story again. Thank you for reading, and I hope you continue to enjoy my works in the future.


End file.
